Photo of the Day: Oy Vey!
The clever campaign buttons were a hit at the debate watch party.
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These buttons were created by the Republican Jewish Coalition in Indiana, according to the Jerry and Doris Siddell.
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A couple of ardent Mitt Romney supporters sported these anti-Obama buttons at the debate watch party Wednesday night. What do you think about them, Safety Harbor?
Gisela Bennie
11:09 am on Friday, October 5, 2012
I had to look up the meaning of these two little words. One dictionary says it's an expression of "frustration but also excitement". Hm.
Jeffrey Rosenfield
11:28 am on Friday, October 5, 2012
Gisela,
If you click on the link in the post, it takes you to the article that explains the meaning of the phrase as well as the story behind the buttons. The phrase translates to "Oh my!" or "Oh God" in Yiddish.
Gary Moos
9:35 pm on Friday, October 5, 2012
This may seem petty, but in my research I can not find a single reliable source that claims oy vey means "Oh God."
I tried finding the saying at: www.merriam-webster.com
But they didn't have a listing for "oy vey" because it is not a word, it is a saying made up of two words. They had a listing for "oy" but not for "vey." This is the listing for "oy":
—used especially to express exasperation or dismay <oy, what a mess>
The link in the article ( http://nws.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary/newword_display_alpha.php?letter=Oy)
leads to an open dictionary in which the listing was submitted by "anonymous."
I found listings for the term "oy vey" in several Yiddish glossaries, and not one says it means "Oh God."
below are three of the many glossaries I checked.
http://www.pass.to/glossary/
http://kehillatisrael.net/docs/yiddish/yiddish.htm
http://bageldrive.com/?page_id=3
I grew up in NY where many of my friends were Jewish and I married into a Jewish family, so while I've heard at least some yiddish all of my life,but I am not an expert. That is why I felt obligated to do the research before writing. Oy vey! what a bad translation - "Oy vey!" in no way means "oh God."
It means "0h woe," or "Oh no," or "unbelievable," but never "oh God."
That is way too much of a western translation.
Jeffrey Rosenfield
11:03 pm on Friday, October 5, 2012
Gary, here is where I got the translation from: http://nws.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary/newword_display_alpha.php?letter=Oy
Gary Moos
6:25 pm on Saturday, October 6, 2012
oy vey (interjection) : a Yiddish expression meaning something similar to "Oh God" and used in exasperation, annoyance, or frustration.
"Oy Vey! I'm so confused!"
Submitted by: Anonymous on Oct. 15, 2007
Right. That is the same "OPEN" dictionary that I referenced in my comment. The source that contributed the definition identifies themselves as Anonomous. Not a very reliable source if you ask me. Unfortunately for our society there is too much faith put in unreliable sources found on the Internet. I really didn't mean to make a big deal about it. It is a phrase that I'd heard all of my life and I never took it to mean "Oh, God." certainly in it's most literal translation it does not, and while some people may choose to define it that way, from what I can tell that is not how Yiddish speakers would define it.