sundries

[rm]

Yesterday, I ran into someone on my friendslist misusing the word mensch (this is not at all about calling her out as she was totally cool about the whole thing and it was all very nice and amicable and even funny; this is about correcting a misunderstanding other people may also have), which is a Yiddish word meaning a good, stand-up, honorable guy (in plain old German is apparently just means "human," but I don't speak German, so if anyone wants to correct me on that, please do). Colloquially in the US this word is also used as regards women. It can mean a "gentleman," but it's less about holding doors and more about doing the right thing in ethically complex situations, where you could get away with taking the easy path but you choose not to.

Sometimes, I even tell people they're being mensches. And sometimes, I've gotten a negative reaction to that. Apparently there's some SFF book out there (I totally can't remember, maybe one of you knows), that uses mensch to mean something like a mundane or a muggle. In trying to Google around to find this (it turns out it's from the Death Gate series as keelieinblack tells us in comments -- thank god, because I really good not get this to happen for me in Google), I also discovered mensch being used to mean "snitch." Further research into that made it pretty clear that this usage was a specifically anti-Semitic sentiment relating to people informing on their neighbors in Community East Berlin.

Look, there are only two people in my family I really look like. A grandmother who died of cancer when I was a kid but always took ridiculous amounts of time out from being very very ill to pay attention to me even when other people told her not to and a great-grandfather who was a tailor. I never met him, I've just seen a photo and have been told over and over again that he was both intensely shy and soft-spoken and also the most charismatic and handsome person my mother has ever remembered meeting.

He was a quiet man who did labor-intensive craftsmanship; the work of a tailor is detail-oriented, proud and servile; it's weird shit and it's laced through my personal and family narrative. My mother talks about how he was really nearly frightened of everyone on some level, but was always a gracious host and always spent time talking to her at great length at family gatherings, she suspects because she was a child and not only less intimidating, but also as uncomfortable in the room in the same way that he was.

At any rate. These two people? Huge figures in the map of my pretty complicated identity in terms of race, religion and gender. Jews who spoke English, Yiddish and Hebrew. People who took time out for others despite their personal pains and fears. Mensches.

It's not a slur; it's a compliment. It doesn't mean a snitch or a boring person or someone uptight. Most people have no reason to know better if they heard it as something else. I get that. Other places aren't necessarily environmentally Jewish the way New York is. But if what I'm telling you about this word is a newsflash to you, please check your use of the word.

Thanks.

The World Economic Forum released its Global Gender Gap Report. Once again, the Nordic countries came out on top. The US was ranked 31st; that's three slots lower than last year.

Five arrests have been made so far in the gang rape case I mentioned yesterday. This new article contains more appalling information about the assault.

Do women need big flu shots? When I first saw this piece "big" was missing from the title. WTF?!

I find few things eerier than the mourning rituals of animals.

I offer you the friendly fresh fish of frigidity. Actually, I don't, but man, that alliteration is AMAZING.

pandarus has an amazing kids, animals, havoc story. (It's number 3 in the post).

What do we not do in Rach's journal, kids? We don't fight about CoE (we debate about CoE, but we don't fight about it -- no one is evil except the government and the puking three-headed turkey aliens). So with that little reminder, I enjoyed this AfterElton piece a lot, although I disagreed with it in the sense that I thought Ianto decided to stand up and own his identity before his demise (that is, I read the Clem scene and the whole "Ianto's no good, very bad homosexual day" running joke thing differently). Anyway, it was an interesting viewpoint to see out there. As an aside, I can't believe how randomly utterly gutted I still feel about the whole thing. It just appears on my emotional landscape out of nowhere some days. Quite odd. I value that really, though, as if it's like exercise and hurts in some oddly useful and familiar way.

Gluten-free meals have been secured for me in Zurich for the part of the trip that involves catered meals at a conference. So that's something.

Evan now has a full name. I'm quite pleased. I'm not telling you out of context because it's a running gag that falls apart when I explain it to you out here. Or something. I dunno. Have I ever mentioned I get really, neurotically shy about some aspects of my writing.

Fleshed out my first scene a little more. It's clearer, but has less punch than my first draft (I won't be able to fiddle like this once NaNo really begins). I've also realized it's not the first scene anymore. Nope, the opening scene is actually going to be a magazine interview with Evan, because what a great way to info dump! And it fits in with the whole media/public-lens theme, etc.

DWNY tonight!

Meanwhile, Patty and I are trying to select what haunted house-like things to attend in the pre-Halloween warm-up over the next few days. This is mainly her department as she is our Halloween expert and fan of all things scary-ish. I'm just along for the ride. Should be fun. I can yelp and cower in her arms. Have I mentioned I have no dignity?

Comments

shiksa comment on mensch

[ophymirage.livejournal.com]

I confess that my first usage & understanding of 'mensch' came from Woody Allen, and I'd always thought the word meant, well, woody allen - that is, brilliant, nerdy, shy and sputteringly inarticulate. Someone who thought too much, and acted too little, and talked himself out of everything - neurotic, but still genius at some things.

Most of the rest of my Yiddish comes via Mel Brooks, and it's a language i've always wanted to learn more about, so thank you for the PSA. :D (Also, the folklorist in me is trying not to indulge in speculation on 'folk definitions' as opposed to 'correct definitions' of yiddish..)

Re: shiksa comment on mensch

[vegablack62.livejournal.com]

No a mensch is someone who saves a child from a burning building no matter what his appearance or intellectual capability. It's someone who loans you money without being asked and doesn't ask to be paid back when you are in a terrible bind. A mensch as used in the New York where I grew up.

Re: shiksa comment on mensch

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

Woody Allen would be more of a schlemiel or a schlimazl which both mean a person with bad luck, possibly clumsy or awkward. I think the distinction is that the schlemiel is the one always tripping and spilling his coffee, the schlimazl is the one he always spills it on.