When my parents traveled in Europe (not Germnany) in the 1960's and would try to communciate with folks who spoke no English, they quickly discovered that my mother's french was far less useful than my father's yiddish.

Oh? Where was that? While I know absolutely nothing about Yiddish, I understand that it incorporates a lot of German or at least Germanic words. I can accept that it would probably be well-known in predominantly Jewish communities throughout Europe. But the French are so xenophobic about language that I find it very hard to believe that Yiddish would have been more useful in France than French!


The idiot also known as Capfka ...