Sunday, December 21, 2008

Shin Hé Gimel Nun


Here come's Hannukah (so much funn-ukah).

The dreidel letters mean Nes gadol hayah sham -- "A great miracle happened there".
But in Israel, the Shin is a Pé :
Nes gadol hayah po -- "A great miracle happened here".

It's Hebrew, but in the game each letter stand for a Yiddish word:

"Nun" = "nisht", or "nothing." You roll this you get nothing.
"Gimel" = "gantz" or "all." You get the whole pot.
"" = "halb" , or "half." You get half the pot.
"Shin" is "shtel" or "put in." You have to put two into the pot.

Go figure.

No comments: