FoodBanter.com - View Single Post

Margaret Suran at lid wrote on 4/25/05 6:54 PM:

> What language is this? Are these the same as Plaetzchen, Semmeln and
> Stangerln?

Oh My!

(Whenever I see a series of three things in a sentence, each one 2
syllables, or the first 2 words 2 syllables, the third word, one syllable, I
am reminded of the scene in the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy, the Scarecrow
and the Tin Man are walking through the forest towards the Emerald City, and
it's right before they meet up with the Cowardly Lion, they are afraid of
the wild animals in the forest and they begin to chant "Lions and tigers and
bears...Oh my!" repeatedly.) Whenever I'm faced with a list that has a
similar meter to that chant, I cannot resist adding "Oh my!"
Sorry!

>>
>>
>> Who would have thought they would have Laverne and Sherly there!!!

Laverne and Shirley was a hit tv show from about 1976 until 1980 or so. It
starred Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams. They were two working class
early-20'ish women in Milwaukee. They worked in brewery. Very funny program,
lots of physical comedy. One of my all-time favorites, in fact. At the
beginning, the women would run down the street, and recite a little...I
don't even know what you'd call it...it's not really a song.... I guess it's
sort of a poem...maybe like a jump-rope chant--that Penny Marshall and her
brother, Producer Garry Marshall, used to sing when they were kids growing
up off the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. It went like this:

Five, Six, Seven, Eight....
Schlemiel, Schlemazel
Hassenfeffer Incorporated!

Now the funny part is, the Marshalls are Italian, not Jewish. But as you
probably know, back in the 1950's when they were growing up there, it was
mostly Jews and Italians who lived off of the Grand Concourse in the Bronx.
Anyway, it was this silly thing from their childhood and they incorporated
it into the theme song of the shoe. And for a lot of people, it was their
first encounter with the Yiddish words "schlemiel" and "schlemazel".

Nancy was trying to be funny. And for those of who know who Laverne and
Shirley are, she succeeded!

>>
>> nancy
>>
>>
> Please, Nancy, I cannot figure this one out, so could you enlighten
> me? Thank you, M
>