Nisht geshtoygn un nisht gefloygn....this from Michael Wex, Born to Kvetch:
This common yiddish saying translates as, "it didn't climb up and it didn't fly." Wex notes this phrase as an example of yiddish as an oppositional "in code" language that the dominant culture wouldn't understand. According to Wex this phrase which is intended to express skepticism as in "pigs don't fly" really refers to Jesus who didn't climb to heaven and didnt' fly there (or didn't climb onto the cross.) Pretty harsh, no? Germans would understand each word of the yiddish, but not the reference. Wex: "Yiddish started out as German for blasphemers."
Here's an example of how language can evoke the conditions and perspectives of a community more quickly and powerfully than pages of discourse or description.
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