Shavua tov, Our Shiputzim fans!
Now, lest you mistakenly thought that the title refers to the return of the carpenter, let me quickly dissuade you of that notion. As previously reported, he has not been here since last Sunday.
Fortunately for our readers, however, I happened to be speaking to YCT the other night, and I was provided with a good deal of blog fodder despite the lack of progress on the renovations front.
To wit:
1) YCT gave me a compliment.
Yes, you read that correctly.
During our discussion, reference was made to a certain individual, and YCT noted that the woman in question - who is just about my age – looks like she is several years older than me.
When I called him on the fact that he had just complimented me for the time in our lives, he tried to lessen the impact. He observed that people at his advanced age make comments like that routinely and that he was just quoting RCT anyway.
But his wavering did not fool me, and I told him that I was going to have to blog about this noteworthy occasion.
2) An indication of charedi-ness?
Recently, I called a certain tourist attraction to make reservations. Among other questions, the woman on the phone asked if we are charedi or chiloni. Slightly taken aback – my American roots were showing, I guess – I said simply, “neither.”
“Okay, so then you’re dati leumi,” she replied and moved on to the next question.
Afterwards, YZG said that I should have asked what the nafka mina was and then decided if we were better off being charedi or chiloni.
Anyway, during our recent conversation, I told YCT about this whole story – including YZG’s reaction.
YCT, in turn, said that using the phrase “nafka mina” automatically labels me as charedi.
I, however, disagreed. I pointed out that charedi women do not use the phrase “nafka mina”. In fact, I said, charedi women don’t even know what this phrase means.
What do you think? Please leave a comment and share your thoughts on this – or any other – subject.
And that’s about it for now.
Good night from the entire Our Shiputzim staff.
You will note though that it was the man in the story (YZG) who suggested the use of the word Nafka Mina.
ReplyDeleteWhen I called him on the fact that he had just complimented me for the time in our lives, he tried to lessen the impact.
ReplyDeletecome come now. we are all not X years ago living on RO dr
:-)
YT - Hmmmm. Interesting point.
ReplyDeleteExcept that I'm not sure if YZG actually used the phrase "nafka mina". He may have used other words, and I just paraphrased. (YZG doesn't remember either.)
In any event, even if he did use the phrase, I still understood it and then proceeded to use it myself when talking to you - neither of which are typical behaviors for charedi women (as I noted in the post).
come come now. we are all not X years ago living on RO dr
ReplyDeletePlus ça change, plus c'est la même chose...
Re: Nafka mina.... American women do, if I remember correctly. After all, they converse with their fathers, brothers, husbands all the time.
ReplyDeleteA Living Nadneyda:
ReplyDeleteAfter all, they converse with their fathers, brothers, husbands all the time.
Good point!
So, they probably do understand Aramaic/Talmudic phrases like "nafka mina".
But the question is - would they ever admit that they understand by using such a phrase themselves?