JewsByChoice.Org

Shalom all! I don’t think this has been posted here on JBC yet, so I thought I’d take a quick second to spread the word a little more than I already have on this quick and fascinating little survey on Yiddish that is being run by Hebrew Union College (the Reform movement’s seminary). It also plays in to a couple recent posts here on the blog about the future (if any) of Yiddish. Here are some details on the survey:

Concerning the spread of Yiddish among English speakers in North America

You are invited to participate in an interesting and entertaining survey about language. Essentially, we’re asking about the spread of Yiddish (and some Hebrew) among English speakers in North America. We’re turning to both Jews and non-Jews to answer questions like these: Who uses Yiddish words like "shmooze" and "daven" and phrases like "Money, shmoney"? Why do some people say "temple" while others say "shul"? Who prefers biblical names for their babies? Your responses will help us answer these and other questions, and you might learn something about yourself in the process. Please set aside 15-20 minutes, and click on this link to participate.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=9eQwWyblG_2b8ixLqbt6QFhg_3d_3d

Please forward this e-mail to your friends and family. We are hoping to get thousands of responses from people of all religions, ages, and regions of the United States and Canada. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail Prof. Sarah Bunin Benor, sbenor@huc.edu, or Prof. Steven M. Cohen, Steve34nyc@aol.com.

I posted about this previously on my personal blog, and I thank the On Chanting blog for bringing it to my attention last week! I was personally surprised at how many words they ask about that I use frequently, and in what contexts I do and don’t use them. At the same time, a lot of the words I came across left me scratching my noggin.