Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;chrisild, post: 1520933, member: 39&quot;]By the way, in German one way of wishing somebody else good luck is to say <i>Hals- und Beinbruch</i> (neck and leg fracture). Huh? Part of this is that you would sometimes say a negative wish, hoping that the opposite will come true. But the interesting part is that the origin is a totally different one: The term comes from Hebrew <i>hazlacha we beracha</i> which means something like luck and blessing. In Yiddish that became <i>hazloche un broche</i>. Non-Jewish Germans who did not understand that would try to get some sense into this. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Or take the <i>Pleitegeier</i> (lit. bankruptcy vulture). You use the word in German as a symbol of a desperate economic situation - if you are about to go bankrupt, that vulture is flying above your house, company, etc. It is a common term, but the Yiddish connection is not that obvious: The first part, Pleite, is derived from Hebrew <i>pleta/peleita</i> (escape) and then Western Yiddish <i>plajte</i>. The second part was imported from German into W. Yiddish - the verb <i>gehen</i> (go) became <i>gajen</i>. The Yiddish <i>plajte-gajer</i> thus was somebody who escaped or fled (and the implied meaning was: because he was bankrupt). Well, gajer sounds like Geier, and ... at least that second example is vaguely money related, hehe.</p><p><br /></p><p>(Hebrew and Yiddish spellings will vary due to transcription, and hopefully not due to any mistakes. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> ) Now as for your bags of gelt, well, the coins sure look nice - I attached one from that website. But they are suspiciously inexpensive ...</p><p><br /></p><p>Christian[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in