Yiddish Question #yiddish
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loren greenberg
Hello,
I have heard the expression "vonce" used by my parents and others from NYC while growing up. I am certain it is a Yiddish expression altered by English speakers. It was used to refer to an active child. Perhaps a "rascal" or "shovav" in Hebrew? Does anyone know what the genesis of this expression is? Thank you, Loren Greenberg Los Angeles, CA Abelow - Merkine, Lithuania Golub(ofsky)- Vasilishki, Belarus Milner - Smiltene, Latvia Shafir, Schaeffer, Melamed, Agazim, Vinograd -StaroKonstantinov, Ukraine Volpiansky - Kaunas and Balbieriskis, Lithuania
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Ellen Slotoroff Zyroff
My recollection is that it means a "louse" (plural "lice").
On Thursday, October 22, 2020, 02:37:40 PM PDT, loren greenberg <greenberg.loren@...> wrote:
Hello, I have heard the expression "vonce" used by my parents and others from NYC while growing up. I am certain it is a Yiddish expression altered by English speakers. It was used to refer to an active child. Perhaps a "rascal" or "shovav" in Hebrew? Does anyone know what the genesis of this expression is? Thank you, Loren Greenberg Los Angeles, CA Abelow - Merkine, Lithuania Golub(ofsky)- Vasilishki, Belarus Milner - Smiltene, Latvia Shafir, Schaeffer, Melamed, Agazim, Vinograd -StaroKonstantinov, Ukraine Volpiansky - Kaunas and Balbieriskis, Lithuania -- ZOLOTOROV (Chernigov, Ukraine; Kiev, Ukraine); SLOTOROFF (Kiev, Ukraine) CHARKOVSKY or SHARKOVSKY(Ukraine); LEVINE (Ukraine and Minsk, Belarus); GLUSKIN (Ukraine) LIMON (Berestechko, Volynia, Ukraine) TESLER (Horochiv, Volynia, Ukraine) ZYRO (Zabolativ, Ukraine) TAU (Zalolativ, Ukraine) PISTERMAN (Ukraine) ROTH / ROT (Ataki, Bessarabia, Moldova) BLAUSTEIN (Chernigov, Ukraine or Minsk, Belarus)
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Deanna Levinsky <DEANNASMAC@...>
In my family a "vonce" was a bedbug but actually applied to a person to mean someone rather sneaky Children received this appellation if the were squirmy, or sneaky but it was more charitable than when applied to an adult
Deanna Levinsky -- Deanna M. Levinsky, Long Island, NY
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Max Heffler
Vantz: https://jel.jewish-languages.org/words/1635 - bedbug
My ex-father-in-law used to use it
Max Heffler Houston
From: main@... [mailto:main@...]
On Behalf Of loren greenberg via groups.jewishgen.org
Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2020 4:15 PM To: main@... Subject: [JewishGen.org] Yiddish Question #yiddish
Hello, -- Web sites I manage - Personal home page, Greater Houston Jewish Genealogical Society, Woodside Civic Club, Skala, Ukraine KehilalLink, Joniskelis, Lithuania KehilaLink, and pet volunteer project - Yizkor book project: www.texsys.com/websites.html
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Laurie Sosna
Anyone else remember the episode of M*A*S*H ("38 Across")?
Hawkeye couldn't finish a crossword puzzle because he didn't know the five letter Yiddish word for bedbug that begins with V. Laurie Sosna San Francisco, CA
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JoAnne Goldberg
In the house where I grew up, we had an annual invasion of flying ants that my parents referred to as "voncen" -- same word I guess. Bedbug in German is Wanze.
-- JoAnne Goldberg - Menlo Park, California; GEDmatch M131535
BLOCH, SEGAL, FRIDMAN, KAMINSKY, PLOTNIK/KIN -- LIthuania
GOLDSCHMIDT, HAMMERSCHLAG,HEILBRUNN, REIS(S), EDELMUTH, ROTHSCHILD, SPEI(Y)ER -- Hesse, Germany
COHEN, KAMP, HARFF, FLECK, FRÖHLICH, HAUSMANN, DANIEL -- Rhineland, Germany
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Philip Heilbrunn
A "vonce" also pronounced "Vantz" is a bed bug!
Not complimentary Philip Heilbrunn
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ryabinkym@...
On Thu, Oct 22, 2020 at 05:36 PM, loren greenberg wrote:
"vonce"It is a word in Yiddish "vantsun" - plural, mean bed bugs and "vontsun" - plural, mean mustache. Michael Ryabinky
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Malka
Hello Genners,
As I recall from my childhood and just double checked with my mother in Israel, the word שוואנץ meant a tail and was not a compliment (he/she is such a schwantz). Shabbat shalom,
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Albert Stern
There was an episode of M*A*S*H called 38 Across that revolved around Hawkeye being unable to finish a crossword. The missing clue was a five letter Yiddish word for bedbug, which they finally - after comic machinations - found out is "vantz."
Here is a link to a MASH fan page about the episode. https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/ It was a long time ago, but I remember it was a funny one. Albert Stern
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-- Vants/ Pl. vantsn means bedbug . I have never heard it used pejoratively for an adult , but I am sure it is possible . My father used to call me " kleyne vantsl " which would be an affectionate term for "scamp" or "rascal" . Vonts pl vontsn or vontse pl. vontses is whisker, one side of a mustache or a mustache , vontselekh being animal whiskers. ( Bienfeld dictionary) The reason for the confusion on spelling is that in " Tote-Mome loshn" the a is pronounced as an " o" . So , Vonts and vants would be homonyms. I noticed that Jews in London who were not all from Bessarabia/Moldava/Romania where that pronunciation was prevalent still said "Shobbos", "Khole" (Challah ) and "Khosn-Kole" ( Khosn-Kale-bride and groom) . but also the Polish " baygl" instead of "beigel" . Gey veys! ( who knows why lit. Go, know ) So the writer may have heard the expression 'vonts" from a Bessarabian speaker or from someone who may have picked it up from a Bessarabian . As for the theory that the writer actually heard "shvants" which is literally a tail but is vulgarly used to refer to the male organ and disparagingly used ( shvantz or dim. shventsl ) for a " stupid bastard" . ( Bienfeld dictionary ) .Interestingly , shvantsevate (vulg.) means "damn stupid" (Bienfeld ) I still go with the theory that the writer actually heard "vants" pronounced as "vonts" ! Henry H. Carrey
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