Throughout the years of my marriage (almost twenty) I've tried to make my wife Yiddish savvy.
She was born and raised in Florida so it's hilarious to hear her struggle to pronounce Yiddish words and also to remember what I've taught her previously. When a Southerner like my dear wife gets a hold of Yiddish, it's hilarious. She tells me over and over that "you people need to learn how to talk right!"
The other night I tested her before we went to bed. We had read something earlier and the word "foolishness" came up; I asked her if she could remember what the Yiddish word for foolishness was? I gave her a hint that she'd learned the root word some time back, and she liked the Yiddish sound so much that she'd use it lovingly in referring to me. I got ready to give her the word for foolishness (narishkeit), but she stopped me. I could see the wheels turning in her mind. Then she said to me, "don't tell me, don't tell me, it starts with an N." Then she blurted out the Yiddish word "nar" for fool. I told her that "narishkeit" was simply the completion. Then she said, "I see, I see! Am I Yiddish literate yet?" Then she asked me, "By the way, what's the Yiddish word for idiot?" I told her that I'd teach her that sometime in the future when I thought she was ready. She pressed me, but I wouldn't tell her. I'm no "nar"if I told her, she'd use it on me.
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