Jewish Curses
I was looking for something else and stumbled upon this, a reminder from @Bob's blog:
May God call the tune, and may your enemies play the music.
May you lose your faith and marry a pious woman.
May all your teeth fall out except one which will remain for a toothache.
May you grow like an onion with your head in the ground and your feet in the air.
May you have a good long sleep and may your dreams only be of your troubles.
May you be the proof that man can endure anything.
May your wife eat Matzos in bed, and may you roll in the crumbs.
"You should speak so beautifully that only the cats understand you!"
posted by The Contentious Centrist @ Saturday, November 05, 2011
6 comments
6 Comments:
Glad to see that again!
And I always thought that one on "teeth" was a Chinese curse.
They're all great, and explain the Ashkenazi mordant sense of humour, like the one that goes "If God had wanted us to fly, he's have given us...airline tickets."
Ever the rationalists, even in their curses.
So, contentious, please give us the details of the book (assuming that it's more of the same).
Dunno. I filched the curses from Bob's blog. I can't remember where he got them.
Ach! perfect. Self deprecating and ironic, and insightful. Humor turns on our foibles, our contradictions. Well-played.
Could not resist this rabbit-hole. Irony is the main ingredient in American Jewish humor (there was a previous discussion of "The Producers") which is the principal reason I watch Jon Stewart--not for some savage ideological thrill, but for the sheer brilliance of the satire. Irony is the main ingredient, as flour is, in the baking of the cake.
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