Re: [Cz-L] more on "angsts"

I am a new member of this list & have been following the conversations with
great interest, but I haven't been moved to join until this point.

My father was born in Willawcze in 1903 and spent several years in
Czernowitz before departing for NY in 1921. He stayed with relatives in the
city while he was apprenticed to a watchmaker to learn a trade, and he
became a jeweler in the New World. My grandmother & aunt stayed in Willawcze
& were massacred in 1941. It is so interesting and satisfying to me to
learn about the world he came from through the email threads & the photos &
the wonderful memories & stories that people share on this list. Even the
detailed discussions of street names and nuances of Yiddish/German/Rumanian
entangled languages. I have finally gotten a sense of the history of the
history he lived through via these email conversations.

But what brings me into this discussion is the fact that my father, when he
was in his 80's, lived in absolute terror of drafts! He didn't leave the
house much, and when I came to visit he would often have a woolen muffler
wrapped around his neck while constantly complaining about the "terrible
drafts." He warned me to "Bevare of the drafts" and chided me to wear a warm
muffler during the winter. I thought it was a good idea since he lived into
his 90's!

He also had an odd superstition - if he sewed an article of clothing while I
was wearing it, he made me chew a piece of thread. Has anyone heard of that?

I am also interested in translations of 2 words he used as Yiddish
endearments for me when I was a child - *shtroyz'kl *and *p'tchurikl*. I've
asked Yiddish speakers about them but haven't gotten an answer. I thought
perhaps they are words combined from the local languages.

- Shulamit Falik, Syosset, NY

On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 2:27 PM, Miriam Taylor <mirtaylo_at_indiana.edu> wrote:

> I can easily think of some cultural angsts, I remember from my Czernowitz
> childhood, but they may not be particular to Czernowitz.
>
> 1. Do not walk around in socks, it may cause someone to die.
> 2. Do not eat fresh warm bread , you'll get a stomach ache.
> 3. If the palm of your right hand itches, you will be counting money.
> If the palm of your left hand itches, you will "chapen Petsch"
> (get a beating).
> 4. Do not praise anyone without saying "Keneynahoreh", if you do, something
> bad will happen to them.
>
> Mimi
>
> On 6/9/10 1:30 PM, "Attiyeh" <rea_at_ucsd.edu> wrote:
>
> > Jerome's follow-up on Hardy's "Zug" enlightenment makes me wonder
> > what other cultural angsts (or quirks, or superstitions)
> > Czernowitzers share, even a generation later?
> >
> > Jessica Falikman Attiyeh, San Diego, CA
> >
> >
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Received on 2010-06-10 05:35:05