Hippie Dictionary; Meshuggenary; NY Cook Book; Shulman's Health

Sat Sep 28 16:22:26 UTC 2002

DAVID SHULMAN'S HEALTH

   I spoke with ADS member David Shulman (90 years old, first AS article in
the 1930s) on my return from Asia.  Shulman told me that he'd been
hospitalized for four days after another heart attack.
   I'll see him at the library in a few hours.  His phone number at the St.
Nicholas home is (718) 238-8141.  Call before 9 p.m.
   The NYPL is now closed Monday and he's trying for an NYU pass without
paying $250.  He'd like to speak with George Thompson about it.  I'd like to
get it resolved soon.

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THE HIPPIE DICTIONARY:
A CULTURAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE 1960s AND 1970s
by John Bassett McCleary
Berkeley: Ten Speed Press
664 pages, paperback, $19.95
2002

   Not a good book, but get it anyway.  tt has a VW microbus on the cover, so
it can't be all bad.
   The 1960s terms are here, but this is no HDAS.  Sources and citations are
not given.  This book is recommended strictly as a light browse.
   For example:

Pg. 434:
_shit happens_  anything can go wrong.  You can't stop fate.  A popular
bumper sticker.

   I'm not sure this is from the 1960s or the "hippie" era.  We all have
about 1980.  Here's another example on the same page:

_shit out of luck_ unlucky, no chance, impossible.  Example: "You're _shit
out of luck_, she's Jon's girl."

   S.O.L. goes back as far as WWI!
   The "dictionary" definitely needed some collarborators.
   Here's another random example, found on flipping through it:

366 P.D.Q.
_P.D.Q._ acronym for "_p_retty _d_amn _q_uick."

   PDQ was used in the 19th century!
   Yeah, I guess it's pretty bad on every single entry.
   The ONLY reason I say to buy it is because it's under 20 bucks and it's
over 650 pages.  You'll probably browse through it a few times, but it is NOT
to be relied upon in any way.  Oh, dear no!

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MESHUGGENARY:
CELEBRATING THE WORLD OF YIDDISH
by Payson R. Stevens, Charles M. Levine, and Sol Steinmetz
New York: Simon & Schuster
242 pages, hardcover, $21
2002

   Three people worked on this book?
   It's a shame that the book doesn't have any of the contributions that I've
recently posted here.  It would give the book some badly needed new
scholarship.
   There's been so much Yiddish stuff available, the book really serves no
purpose.  There's a page or two that you might find interesting, but
Feinsilver's A TASTE OF YIDDISH did it all better thirty years ago, as did
Leo Rosten.
   Curiously, the name "Israel Zangwill" is not in the one-page Yiddish Hall
of Fame (Pg. 13), not in the Bibliography on pages 237-239, and not even in
the IndeX on pages 240-242!
   YINGLISH 101 is on pages 14-38, but the words are not defined with dated
citations.
   A small YIDDISH HUMOR section follows.
   THE HEART OF YIDDISH VOCABULARY follows on pages 66-93.  Hey guys, isn't
this the same as YINGLISH 101?  For example, "bagel" makes it in both places.
 Who organized this book?
   A small, poorly organized YIDDISH LITERATURE follows.
   YIDDISH PROVERBS AND SAYING follows on pages 126-165, but Feinsilver (not
mentioned in the Bibliography) did it better.
   YIDDISH FOOD AND COOKING, FOR NOSHERS AND FRESSERS is on pages 166-189.
Again, Feinsilver did it better.  And again, no dates and no historical
cites.
   THE STORY OF YIIDISH THEATER, FROM _PURIMSHPIL_ TO _THE DYBBUK_ and
YIDDISH MUSIC, KLEZMER AND BEYOND both follow.
   You can get this all on the web.  In fact, the most useful section is
probably "Virtual Yiddishdom on the Web," on pages 229-236.
   MESHUGGENARY is a disorganized mess, useful perhaps in 1950 but a real
embarrassment for the web world of 2002.  A good clue is the Index.  Take a
look at this, from page 240:

Page references set in _boldface_ indicate a chapter, a sidebar, a section,
or an extract devoted to the subject.  Page numbers set in _italics_ denote
an illustration.
(...)
Baal Shem Tov, Israel, 13, 99
bestiary, Yiddish, _207_
bialy, 16, _169_

   BAGEL is not there!  That sums up my review of the book perfectly!

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NEW YORK COOK BOOK
Contributing editors: Jean Miller Dean and Janice Therese Mancuso
Cooking Across America Collection
Phoenix: Golden West Publishers, Inc. (http://www.goldenwestpublishers.com)
93 pages. looseleaf, $6.95
2002

   This is a bunch of New York recipes for $6.95, for anyone who wants it in
one books and can't search the web.  It is what it is at $6.95.  It serves
it's purpose.
   A big red apple is on the cover.  Bits of regional trivia are spread
throughout the book, and let's get right to it.

Pg. 12:
   _The "Big Apple"--Version I_
   According to David Ellis' "Lonely Planet--New York CIty Guide," the city
was named the Big Apple because a writer covering horse races in 1920 said in
the "Morning Telegraph," that stable hands in New Orleans referred to a trip
to a NY racecourse as going to the "Big Apple," or the greatest reward for
any thoroughbred.

Pg. 15:
   _The "Big Apple"--Version II_
   Rumor has it that the "Big Apple" is so named because during the
depression, many former financiers would travel from their suburban cottages
in order to sell apples on the streets of New York City.  Several well-to-do
families had to make ends meet by selling apples and the charade became known
to many as the "Big Apple" scam of New York.

   No other New York fact in the book is offered in two versions.  The book
mentions the name David Ellis, but LONELY PLANET mentioned me by name.  No
one contacted me.  Version II, about the depression (1929--), clearly cannot
be true for anyone who believes that version I is 1920--.  But it's published
anyway!
   Within the past year, at least three books (this, plus LET'S GO! NYC 2002
and NAMING NEW YORK) have used my work on :"the Big Apple."
   Zero of the three books gave me a free book.
   Zero of the three books paid me.
   Two of the three books didn't even mention my name.
   All three of the books mentioned alternate "Big Apple" theories (the
depression, jazz musicians, 19th century whores) that are not supported by a
single fact.

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OFF TOPIC: PARKING TICKETS (Apologies to Ron Butters)

   As of October 1, NYC parking fines will increase from $55 to $105.
   Waiting for me in the mail was a memo about this, plus instructions about
mitigation.  I was told that certain fines cannot be mitigated below half,
under _any_ circumstances.
   This policy and memo is illegal.  It's like a prosecutor ordering a judge
how to rule on the law.  This is the second illegal memo I've received in the
past three months.

    FWIW:  The parking signs on my block have been changed this week.  The
sign in the middle of the block has one less restriction than the signs at
the other ends.  Someone surely will rely on the middle sign, park there, and
be towed.
   As I've said many times before:  this is New York City.  There's nothing I
can do to make a difference, and no one cares.