Re: Vu ikh gey un vu ikh shtey

[Sylvia Schildt <creativa...>]

It's an idiom with many nuances of meanings. It can mean what is your
condition, what's going on. It can also mean "everywhere".


I've also heard it used in the context of someone (usually a man for a
woman) willing to marry someone with no dowry or other financial prospects
as - ikh vil zi nemen vi zi geyt un vi zi shteyt.

Sylvia Schildt
Baltimore, Maryland


on 12/30/03 10:52 AM, Dick Rosenberg at mashke (at) comcast(dot)net wrote:

Hi,
 
I have a question for the list.
 
I often hear in Yiddish lyrics "Vu ikh gey un vu ikh shtey" or "Hershl vu
geyts du, hershl vu sheyts du". I know enough Yiddish (derived to some
extent from my college German, which may or may not be accurate), to know
that it literally translates to "where I go and where I stand", but I
suspect it has a different meaning.
 
Can any of the native Yiddish speakers/Yiddish scholars on the list give me
a better translation/interpretation.
 
A dank.
 
Dick Rosenberg