Born To Kvetch, Michael Wex
Born To Kvetch, Michael Wex
9 Rating(s)
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

Born To Kvetch

Author: Michael Wex

Narrator: Michael Wex

Unabridged: 10 hr 23 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 03/21/2006

Synopsis

As the main spoken language of the Jews for more than a thousand years, Yiddish has had plenty to lament, plenty to conceal. Its phrases and expressions paint a comprehensive picture of the mind-set that enabled the Jews of Europe to survive persecution: they never stopped kvetching about God, gentiles, children, and everything else. In Born to Kvetch, Michael Wex looks at the ingredients that went into this buffet of disenchantment and examines how they were mixed together to produce an almost limitless supply of striking idioms and withering curses. Born to Kvetch includes a wealth of material that's never appeared in English before.This is no bobe mayse (cock-and-bull story) from a khokhem be-layle (idiot, literally a ""sage at night"" when no one's looking), but a serious yet fun and funny look at a language. From tukhes to goy, meshugener to kvetch, Yiddish words have permeated and transformed English as well. Through the fascinating history of this kvetch-full tongue, Michael Wex gives us a moving and inspiring portrait of a people, and a language, in exile.

About Michael Wex

Novelist, lecturer, and translator Michael Wex is one of the leading lights in the revival of Yiddish, and author of the New York Times bestseller Born to Kvetch and its follow-up, Just Say Nu.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Brett on May 02, 2021

This was a fun read. I gained knowledge into the world of Yiddish and its complexity without getting into heavy linguistic or grammatical caveats. This book describes the use of the language in various life settings and various social settings. The book is written with humor and full of color Yiddis......more

Goodreads review by Ushan on December 22, 2012

The Yiddish language is alive and well in Kiryas Joel, New York, materially the poorest but presumably spiritually the richest town in the United States, where the Satmar Hasidic residents' pious lifestyle is subsidized by the impure Gentile United States via food stamps and Medicaid. It survives in......more

Goodreads review by Mattie on July 14, 2014

Oy, did I love this book! Serious exploration of how Jewish culture, particularly Ashkenzic Jewish culture, is reflected in the Yiddish language. The scholarly stuff is good. But what makes this book for me Wex's writing. His presentation of the material is funny, and wry and fabulous. Here are a fe......more

Goodreads review by Carrie on March 19, 2008

I love this book, but I also have an unnatural facination with all things Yiddish, considering I'm a lapsed Prebyterian of Irish extraction who grew up in Tennessee. Wex takes his own sweet time explaining a variety of Yiddish expressions and obscure idioms as well as Yiddish the goys use daily (hin......more

Goodreads review by Erica on October 20, 2012

I can't kvetch about this book because it was great. (In spite of all the dated pop culture references.) Michael Wex does an excellent job of describing Yiddish and conveying the underpinnings of the culture that gave it birth. He does so with profound insight, with an impressive breadth of scholars......more

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List