"like," intrans.

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:37 AM -0700 9/19/06, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
>On Sep 19, 2006, at 11:23 AM, David Sutcliffe wrote:
>
>>  What about the invitation to "Enjoy!". I first noted Americans
>>using this about
>>10 years ago, and I had the impression it was urban and or Jewish
>>in feel.
>
>i've heard it for fifty years, usually in a jewish context.  here's
>the OED:
>
>DRAFT ADDITIONS JUNE 2003
>
>     enjoy, v.
>
>  [In later use, prob. after dialectal Yiddish genist.] In imper.,
>with ellipsis of object: take pleasure in the thing (freq. food or
>drink) being presented.
>
>1876 H. JAMES Roderick Hudson ix, Don't mind the pain, and it will
>cease to trouble you. Enjoy, enjoy; it is your duty. 1959 H. GOLDEN
>For 2¢ Plain II. 92 When my mother served our meals..she would always
>say, 'Enjoy, enjoy'... The word 'enjoy' was seldom used by itself. It
>was always repeated.

cf. "Ess ess (mayn kint)" in the same context.

(pardon my Yiddish transliteration--I've never
seen it written and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't
be "Ess ess mein Kind", as in the homophonous
German counterpart)

LH

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