they have their maalos”. The guy said “Mylar? They’re silk!”
THAT is funny!!
I am in total agreement with Jothar (well-said, by the way). Ladino is a made up language, and it was made up so that sefardim essentially could have the same “benefits” as Yiddish-speakers, and be able to communicate universally with other sefardim.
As English is now a language that virtually all Jews in this country (and even elsewhere) speak, it actually should be the mamaloshon for learning. My understanding is that Yiddish became a preferred language of European Jews specifically because it united them linguistically, without resorting to using Hebrew for common conversations. In other words, keep Loshon Kodesh, Kadosh and not use it for mundane matters such as , who wants to take out the garbage.
The flaw in that noble intention, however, is that Hebrew was THE first language of the world, was meant to be the ONLY language of the world, and is the main language in Medinat Yisroel, so it is the spoken tongue for all things kodesh AND mundane, which is what is was supposed to be all along. Should we refrain from nivul peh? You betcha, and in fact there are NO words of Hebrew origin that are offensive, they are all Arabic or other languages. Hebrew is a language of continuous use of loshon saginahor, where we use pleasant language even when talking about unplesant things (like saying something is “not tahor” as opposed to “tamei”). Bottom line, Yiddish, while a rich and very funny language – there are some expressions that simply cannot be translated into English – and the language of our European Gedolim, is no longer necessarily the most appropriate language to be used today for the same purposes that made it so vital and beneficial yesterday. English is a much better choice, certainly here in the USA, and I totally agree with the posts about levayas for gedolim where the ehspedim are meaningless to people who cannot understand a word of what is being said. Are there any frum people in the USA under the age of 70 who do NOT speak English? If so, I don’t know how they got through the education system. My son was taught Gemarah from Aramaic to English. If he would have had to stuggle with Yiddish, which I do not speak, he would have HATED learning. Instead, he became a bochur who learned a mesechta for his Zaydy’s yartzeit completely on his own, and made a beautiful siyum for it.