12/16/08

A conversation on the Lower East Side

[regarding me, between two Jews]

"Iz er a yid?" (Is he Jewish?)

"Avade iz er a yid." (Of course he's Jewish.)

What was next said, as I first heard it:
"Er kikt oys vi a narisher." (He looks like an idiot.)

I said "Vos?" (What?)

"Ir kikt oys vi an arisher." (You look like an Aryan[?].)

"Vos?"

"Vi an arisher!"

"Ah!"

Oh! I get it. Like an "ayrisher" ("Irisher" in non-"YIVO" Yiddish, Irlender in standard Yiddish), in the speaker's pronunciation - "arisher."

Thus was I saved from getting in a fight with two older men on the Lower East Side (probably avoiding a beating in the process).

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous8:14 PM

    I blush to confess that you were the person who introduced me to the concept that Jews could be blonde. To the best of my recollection, I did not encounter any blonde Jews in the first 13 years of my life!

    ReplyDelete