The Few, The Proud, The Grammarines

Okay, I know I'm a little obsessed with the difference between "less" and "fewer." I can't help it; I'm a geek. So when I saw this while shopping earlier, I couldn't resist.

Oh, and sorry about the poor photo quality.

I used the camera in my phone and, although it seems to take marvelous pictures of parts of my ear, the inside of my purse, and one (or sometimes both) of my feet, apparently all the fluorescent lighting in the world won't turn me into Diane Arbus.

Grammar Nerds, Rejoice!

Check Your Schlep-o-Meter

Oy, such a schlep it was! Well, maybe it wouldn't be such a schlep if you lived in a better planned area.

Check out Walk Score to find your neighborhood's walkability score. My address gets an 86 out of 100. This means I can drive less because I can easily walk to shops, restaurants, grocery stores, etc.

And you can also see a photo of your home if you click on Go to Street Level View (not available in all areas).

How Jew Are You?

So I took the Survey of American Jewish Language, "the first of its kind to ask North Americans about the words from Yiddish and Hebrew (and other languages) that they may use or recognize."

It was sort of like a combination of the SATs and a Cosmo sex quiz. In addition to asking about recognition of certain Hebrew and Yiddish words, the survey asks about English expressions that can be attributed to Yiddish, and word pronunciation.

And they also ask when was the last time you called your mother.

I recognized about 75% of the words and most of the expressions. I guess that gives me about a B+ as a Heeb. Pretty good for someone who grew up in a home so Reform we were almost Episcopalian.

Comma-kazi

Renegade commas are taking over the world.

Ask the Maven

I'm often asked questions by non-Jewish friends about the many mysteries of Judaism. I'd thought I'd start to answer them here to help demystify Semitic semantics.

Please note, these are actual questions. I'm not making this up.

Question: Is soaking in Epsom salts a Jewish thing?

Answer: Although we Heebs have been known to enjoy floating in the Dead Sea, parting the Red Sea, and frolicking in the Med Sea (all three can be accessed in Israel, btw), Epsom salts are an equal opportunity pleasure that Jews and non-Jews alike utilize to relieve muscle pain.

Question: I fed my cat tuna and chicken on the same plate. He ate the tuna, but wouldn't touch the chicken. Is he kosher?

Answer: No your cat is not kashrut (or katrut in your case). Now, if you were to feed him a cheeseburger with a side of shrimp puffs, that would be one treyf-ridden meal. And your vet would probably kill you.