In the spirit of last year’s widely-popular Theory of the Gilads, I now present a new challenge for your pre-Shabbat enjoyment:
At Ariel (a youth movement) on Shabbat, a certain Shiputzim child frequently plays a game called “Ein Zahp”.
We here in TRLEOOB (I’m going to assume that you know what this means by now) have been wondering about the name’s etymology and have narrowed it down to three possibilities:
1) The name comes from the Hebrew אין זאפ – i.e. “no zahp”. (Admittedly, zahp isn’t a word, but that’s just a minor detail…)
2) The name is a Hebrew corruption of the words, “ends up”.
3) The name is a Hebrew corruption of the phrase, “hands up”.
Which answer is correct?
Please show your work…
!שבת שלום ומבורך
13 comments:
I'll vote for 3). If I say “Ein Zahp” as though I'm an Israeli talking English, it kinda sounds like hands up.
The name of the game is אינזאפ and not any other name.
Leora - That definitely seems to be the majority opinion around here.
ESG - Yes, but what does אינזאפ mean?
I don't know, but that's what the game is called.
Zoom, Schwartz, Mafigliano, No Dice.
Jameel - LOL! :-) ("The name of the game is...")
Of course, אינזאפ involves physical activities such as running, "making מארבים" (to quote my son), taking a certain number of steps, saying "אינזאפ", stepping on the other guy's toes, and "taking שבויים" (again, to quote my son).
I'm pretty sure that "Zoom, Schwartz, etc." involves none of that...
:-)
Do your kids play this game?
I'll have to ask my kids tonight if they know what "אינזאפ" is.
On the other hand, they love the game I taught them, "Zoom, Schwartz, Mafigliano, No Dice" (ZSMND for short ;-)
This is TOO funny! I found it in WikiPedia! (albeit with a corrupted name...but even that version is listed :-)
That IS funny! I see that they even credit a group from YU for that version...
Just read the Wikipedia version of Zoom, Schwartz. So mifgliano is the Jewish version? Profigliano is the original? This is fascinating...someone could use it as a PhD topic. They also mention the MIT Talbot house at Killington in the article...I've been there! And now I need to get back to be a productive citizen. Thanks for the amusements, Mrs. S. and Jameel.
Leora - someone could use it as a PhD topic./
As long as they would use Jameel's authoritative post on the subject as a source, of course...
nu?! So what's ein zahp?
Jameel - Sorry for leaving you in
metach.
:-)
Check out my most recent post for what I believe is the definitive answer.
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