Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
Click the image to watch Carter's rant.
”I don’t know that, because I don’t know if they have the glue – the meshugenah – that thing that brings a team together. The training camp that you can depend on me, you can count on me. I’ve got your back, you’ve got my back.”
What kind of schmendrick uses a kakameyme word like meshugenah when trying to say a team is tightly-knit? Frankly, his fakakte use of Yiddish terms is making me farklempt.
Carter obviously didn’t mean meshugenah, despite the Vikings being crazy to think Favre can get them to the Super Bowl. So what did he mean?
A listener to our show suggested he could mean ‘chutzpah’. But Carter wasn’t saying the Vikings didn’t have the ‘guts’ to succeed. He was saying they didn’t have the camaraderie.
In other words, he meant ‘mishpokhe’ or ‘family.’ The Vikings don’t have the glue – the misphokhe – that thing that brings a team together. It does sound a bit like meshugenah, doesn’t it?
So mazel tov for trying, Cris. It wasn’t a bad effort... for a goyim.
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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Dan,
I have to object. I share in your criticism of Carter’s improper use of Yiddish, but the word Mishpokhe (as you spell it) does, literally, mean ‘family’. It’s not a word that is used interchangeably with ‘unity’ or ‘glue’. The word he should have used is Achdus (or Achdut, depending on your lineage), which means ‘unity’.
Also, Mazel Tov is used as a term of congratulations, whereas Yasher Ko-ach (again with the throat-clearing) means "good job". One last point of order (and I’m sorry to nitpick, but I am a grammar stickler in English as well as Hebrew) is that "goyim" is plural, meaning "nations", also used interchangeably with "gentiles". The singular is "goy".
Don’t take this in any way as an attack on your Hebrew skills. Consider it constructive criticism and a lesson in the language of our ancestors; that is how I intended it. Yasher Ko-ach to you for bringing some respect back to our mother tongue. You just need a little practice.
by shagmeelmo on Aug 19, 2009 5:02 PM EDT reply actions
Who will care for what he said is mean? he did nothing for us in the past days…Mazel Tov is used as a term of congratulations, whereas Yasher Ko-ach (again with the throat-clearing) means "good job". Got an eyeful of water from the squirt gun.
by KKaia on Aug 28, 2009 1:57 AM EDT reply actions
Who will care for what he said is mean? he did nothing for us in the past days…Mazel Tov is used as a term of congratulations, whereas Yasher Ko-ach (again with the throat-clearing) means "good job". Got an eyeful of water from the squirt gun.
by KKaia on Aug 28, 2009 1:58 AM EDT reply actions
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