Ketzl's Dad wrote:

Beth Israel Hospital offered a course in Yiddish once they started
admitting a lot of eastern European Jews, and of course, being a
language nut, I signed up for it. I now know more Yiddish than my
Jewish friends.

LOL, I'm sure you know more than I do.

I do make a mean Matzo Ball Soup, if I do say so myself.

My WASP ex taught me to make chicken soup.

When I visit with some of my Protestant friends' families (they're Yankees,
on top of it all) I'm amazed at how "quiet" it can be at the dinner table.
They don't talk about ANYthing. No one yells! They don't all talk at once,
either. It's so bizarre. :-)

LOL, remember the Annie Hall scene with the split screen, that showed his
dinner with Annie's family on one side, all quiet and repressed, and the
other side showing a dinner with his family, where everyone's complaining
about their health?

I grew up in one of those noisy families. At holidays, we'd get together
with the extended family (on the Jewish side - mom wasn't close to her
family), and yes, everyone would be talking at once. It was sarcastic and
competitive, though, and as a kid I was totally intimidated by it. In fact
I didn't learn to open my mouth in groups until I joined discussion groups
(as an adult) that had one-at-a-time talking rules. *Finally*, I could
speak without someone interrupting me!

So when I hear people who grew up in loud, talky cultures get all nostalgic
about dinner tables where everyone was talking over each other, I just
scratch my head. Been there, done that, managed to survive, but I don't
look back on it all that fondly...

Joyce