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I grew up hearing several expressions about the words "shlofn" (to sleep) and "dreml" (to nap):
"Shlofn shper brengt oremkayt." (Sleeping late brings poverty.)
You snooze, you lose.
A "leydiggeyer" is a loafer.
"No day is so bad that it can't be fixed with a nap." Carrie P. Snow
And Bob Hope used to say, "I don't feel old. I don't feel anything till noon. That's when it's time for my nap."
Winston Churchil, Thomas Edison, JFK and Bill Clinton were nappers. Clinton naps 5, 10, 20 minutes in cars, buses, trains, and planes. He claims he can sleep leaning against a wall, and that power napping helped him with "bashlus" (decision) making. (He also fell asleep at a ceremony honoring Martin Luther King Day Service.) And Brahms napped at the piano while composing his famous "viglid" (lullaby)..
Bill Cosby's newest book, "I Didn't Ask to be Born - But I'm Glad I Was," has a funny piece about Adam, Eve, and God.
There wasn't much to do in the garden. God is walking around. Adam, who is actually the first person to see things, but he has never seen a woman ("froy"). Cosby writes, "He has no idea anything like that exists. He wasn't even sure about the word 'mates.'...God says I need a helpmate? Adam knew nothing except he was having fun and all of a sudden you need a helpmate....
There is no conversation between God and Adam. Describing this helpmate, and therefore, Adam has no idea what 'helpmate' means."
Next, the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs. (FYI: the Yiddish word for "rib" is "rip.")
Cosby writes, "...I can only assume God spoke with Eve before he took me to meet Adam. I also think God told Eve wonderful ("vunderlekh") things about Adam and she was looking forward to meeting him. Maybe she fixed herself up...I'm not talking about liptick ("lipnshtift"), just the hair ("hor")..."
Cosby continues, "When Eve arrives, Adam is asleep...So God calls unto Adam, I assume, and wakes him up and says, Behold!.... But Eve is not happy. Why? Because she got all fixed up ("fapitz'd") and when she finally meets Adam, the guy is napping, which bothers her greatly. Remember, Eve is human...a woman--and this is the first time we see a woman not happy ("gliklekh")...And to this day, women still have Eve DNA in them."
Cosby reminds us that those who are married ("khasene gehat") more than 30 years know that wives don't really appreciate it if you "dreml" (nap). Wives hate ("sine") to see their husbands napping on a "sofe" (sofa). It's OK for a "beybi" to nap, but wives want to kill when they find their huband napping on the sofa.
Cosby concludes by saying that napping
is great for the home-furnishing business
stores (think Crate & Barrel and Bed, Bath & Beyond) because they sell thousands of pillows so they can cover the sofa to keep
the husband from getting on it. (FYI: In Yiddish, a pillow is a "kishn.") And these pillows don't match the color ("kolir") of anything.
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Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe has got to run.
Time for her nap!
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