Well, gosh…if a blog could blush, GreaterFalls would be beet-red right now. The good folks over at Big Red Onion have singled out GreaterFalls.com as a “Five Star Blog!”
A Great Falls, Montana Blog in the 5 Star Category
It’s rare you happen upon a blog that you can sink your teeth into and look forward to seeing what post is coming next. But they are out there. I call these websites 5 Star Hotel Blogs….GreaterFalls.com is one of those 5 Star Hotel Blogs I read on a regular basis. I live well over 1,500 miles away from this place but it certainly makes me want to visit or even live there. Go ahead, give this blog a try. No reservation required.
I am truly flattered and appreciate the kind words. Thank you, Big Red Onion. Almost makes me think I’m finally getting the hang of this “blogging” thing!
July 4th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Mazel Tov, Dave!
(MAH-zl TAWV) Yiddish/Hebrew. Literally, good luck. This is the traditional way of expressing congratulations.
“Mazel tov!” is the correct and traditional response upon hearing that a person has gotten engaged or married, has had a child, or has become a bar mitzvah. It can be used to congratulate someone for getting a new job, graduating from college, or any other happy event, such as their blog receiving a 5-star hotel rating.
Note that this term is not used in the way that the expression “good luck” is used in English; that is, it should not be used to wish someone luck in the future. Rather, it is an expression of pleasure at the good luck someone has already had (we don’t want to attract the ‘evil eye’, the ‘kain ein horeh’, do we?).
July 9th, 2007 at 6:16 am
Actually its pronounced ma-ZAL tov. Walter thinks he’s a maven, but he’s not.
July 9th, 2007 at 6:38 am
Shmendrick, according to Judaism 101, “Mazel Tov” is pronounced “MAH-zl TAWV”
See: http://www.jewfaq.org/express.htm
July 9th, 2007 at 9:28 am
I think I know how to pronounce my own language better than you. I have no idea what Judaism 101 is, but most words in Hebrew (HEE-brew), thats iv-RIT, have the stress on the last syllable. See any Hebrew textbook. Stick to your own version of English before trying to teach an Israeli how to pronounce his own language.
July 9th, 2007 at 9:37 am
Shmendrick, hak mir nit kayn chainik, it’s Yiddish/Hebrew.
July 9th, 2007 at 10:02 am
You are a prize idiot. The expression is Hebrew not Yiddish. However as a member of a nation that cannot pronounce (prone-ounce) or spell English, I am little surprised that you do not understand Hebrew pronounciation (thats pro-nun-ci-ashun)either.
The tone of your correspondence is a know-it-all who will learn nothing. Am I supposed to be impressed by your use of Yiddish words? I am not, but I am fluent in three languages.
I am also aware that this behaviour (not behavior) of yours is widespread across several blogs and forums. Might I suggest you get a life. You and I have crosswed swords twice before but you don’t know where.
July 9th, 2007 at 10:10 am
A shmendrick with an attitude, no less!
July 9th, 2007 at 10:21 am
It takes one to know one. You are a bore and a boor and this terminates here, although I am sure the village idiot will want the last word. I am sure the whole world revolves around Great Falls, Montana and is eagerly awaiting the pearls of wisdom from someone clearly without a job. Population nearly 57,000, WOW! (I am retired by the way and going out now). Goodbye
July 9th, 2007 at 10:34 am
I’m sorry that us provincial colonials are not up to your standards.
July 9th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Geez David, it’s one thing that you don’t like Walter. But do you need to smear us all?
July 9th, 2007 at 11:33 am
David Kravitz, you appear to be something of an expert in boorishness and boringness.Walter offered up a congrats to me, and I appreciate that. And then you come along and attempt to correct his pronunciation, which is fine - but then you go and insult him, and continue to do so.
What the hell? Do you have nothing better to do than litter the comments here with your bitterness and rude behavior? If you have a beef with Walter, take it elsewhere, please.
July 9th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
David Sherman, the difference in pronunciation is between the Ashkenazi (Central and Eastern European) Yiddish pronunciation that I used and the Israeli Hebrew pronunciation that David Kravitz used, and like many Sabras (native born Israelis), David Kravitz looks down upon all things Yiddish (and, it seems, he also looks down upon American English, as well).
July 9th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
To Gee Guy and David Sherman and others less obnoxious and self-opinionated than Walter Greenspan.
Perhaps you are entitled to an explanation of my comments. I first came across Greenspan some time ago and had problems with him as an anonymous blog minder. I found him troublesome and objectionable with a total lack of seeing anyone else’s point of view. He loves to pontificate and push his own point of view.
Without knowing him personally, I can only form an opinion of him from what he writes and the way he writes. I believe him to be relatively younger than me and a member of an Ashkenazi ultra-orthodox (formerly) eastern European sect. For reasons totally unknown, they often dress in the manner of 18th century Russian and Polish gentry, originally so that they blended in with the masses. Today, of course, in the USA and Israel with its 100+ degrees of heat it has the reverse effect.
Hebrew was often banned in these countries as the language of the bible and they spoke Yiddish, a language based primarily on German but with a strong sprinkling of eastern European languages. Yiddish used Hebrew script with additional characters to spell out the vowels that did not exist in Hebrew. But the two languages are as alien to each other as Russian and French. As with all languages, words get absorbed from one to another, hence a large number of Yiddish words in American English.
But, there are other major differences between the two languages. The Ashkenazi pronounce the written words of the Torah differently to the Sephardi for whom Hebrew ia a spoken living language. And, like English and other European languages, they stress the first syllable of a word rather than the last syllable as in spoken Hebrew.
So Greenspan persists in his arguments confusing Yiddish with Hebrew and insisting that his pronunciation of words is more accurate. If he speaks, rather than reads, Hebrew fluently outside of his synagogue, it would sound ridiculous. But, then, these ultra-orthodox still cling to their Ashkenazi way of reading whereas other orthodox Jews are allowing it to die a natural death. In Israel these orthodox Jews who still read the *old” way are probably turned 60. On a recent trip to England, I heard a Chabad (Lubavitch) rabbi read the prayer for Israel in this Ashkenazi, the first time ever I had heard it read that way. And, apparantly, in his Hebrew classes, he was actually teaching this way of speaking which means that his pupils can never speak and be understood.
So what does all this mean? Greenspan wrote of mazel, actually the word is mazal (try the Oxford Hebrew Dictionary) and when picked up on it, instead of admitting that the spoken word in Ivrit (Hebrew) is correct, argues the toss, but that is the nature of the beast. Greenspan is dealing in words, I am dealing in language. The Brits say tomarto, the Americans tomayto but both spell it tomato. The English language goes back a lot further than 1776 or, even, 1492 so I think I know who gets it right.
There is another reason why I went after Greenspan, not even associated with my tussles with him earlier this year. He is currently stalking (her word) a friend of mine via the Internet and she has been forced to block his email address that contains the Yiddish word mayven - which means an expert (!). I am giving him a taste of his own medicine. And, by the way, Greenspan, you are blocked by me as well so don’t bother to trace my email address.
As for me being an expert in boorishness and boringness (no such words in the English language), that is an opinion you are entitled to but I did have a job, in the 1980s, translating American into English for IBM brochures and technical letters for distribution in Europe, the Middle East and Africa - I kid you not. I do speak three languages and I did write a dictionary. So I can claim a little more expertise than him, probably.
July 10th, 2007 at 1:21 am
have been researching the name of Walter Greenspan via Google. He does contribute an awful lot of material to a wide variety of blogs etc at most times of the day. Clearly he has nothing better to do. He uses the email name of mayven, Yiddish for an expert.
Yet much of what he writes is pure rubbish and if you try to correct him, he gets very annoyed, our Walter is NEVER wrong, on ANYTHING.
Take for example this from
http://www.davidmsc.com/2007/06/21/ray-of-light/
“For those who may not know, the “Pen Name” Ayn Rand comes from Ayn = one in German and Rand = Rand from Remington Rand typewiter, of the “English name” Alisa Rosenbaum, whose Jewish name I’ve not yet been able to obtain.
Anyone know her Jewish name (the name given her on the 8th day after birth)?”
What’s wrong here? Well, for starters Ayn (rhyming with cane) is not German for one, its Yiddish. German is Ein rhymimg with line.
And this is from Wikipedia.
“Already using Rand as a Cyrillic contraction of her surname, she then adopted the name Ayn, an adaptation of a “Finnish feminine name”, most likely “Aino” or “Aina”. She might have been referring to the Finnish author Aino Kallas. Her surname may also have come from the Estonian word rand, meaning coast or shore.”
Then there is the naming comment. Unless our Alisa changed sex and was circumcized, a ceremony for BOYS at eight days that includes naming, little girls can be named at any time, usually when the father first visits his synagogue after the birth and is called to read a portion of the Torah.
On naming conventions, Walter is shortened to Wally in many countries. WordWeb pro defines Wally as “A silly and inept person; someone who is regarded as stupid”. Very apt.
Walter, get a life, get a job or, if you are too old for that, take up needlework or some other recreation that keeps you away from a computer screen for a few hours.
July 10th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
David Kravitz, you continue to irritate me (and likely everyone else reading this). Walter can be a wee bit tiresome at times with his constant “pushing” of Hebrew and/or Yiddish words on various blogs — but he certainly doesn’t attack other people or make accusations about them that have no bearing on the discussion at hand.
I have never banned anyone from GreaterFalls.com, but you might very well be the first.
Walter and others - if you find his comments beyond the pale, please let me know. I will delete his inappropriate comments if you wish.
July 10th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Leaving aside (but not ignoring) the outright Israeli anti-Jewish bigotry that has been posted here, my understanding of the origins of Ayn Rand’s pen name came while attending one of Victor Niederhoffer’s monthly NYC-Junto meetings. The NYC-Junto, modeled after Ben Franklin’s Junto meetings, is a monthly meeting which focuses on libertarianism, Objectivism and investing, gathers together about 75 to 125 people, many of whom are published authors, equity and commodity market traders, physicians, scientists, elected officials, professors, etc., etc., religious and non-religious, etc., etc. For more info about the NYC-Junto, see: http://www.nycjunto.com/ .
There were several people in the audience at that one particular meeting in 1996 or 1997 who personally knew Ayn Rand and one of these people provided the explanation (Ayn = one; and, Rand from Remington Rand) and none of the others who personally knew Ayn Rand or any others of the 75+ people who were present that night objected to this explanation.
I know that there are other different versions, and my “error” when I posted what I did was not to include the source of my information, which, it seems, may not be accurate
The Ayn Rand Institute has a different source of the origin of the name “Ayn Rand” than does Wikipedia. See: http://tinyurl.com/2mw2ck
After more than 10+ years of posting to many different lists, boards and blogs, and excluding keyboarding errors and outright spelling and grammatical errors, if that was my worst offense, than I’m not doing so bad, I guess.
July 10th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
Please yourself, I have made my point and will not write again. Small town people (less than one third of my own small town) with small minds. It has been interesting reading about the exciting happenings and looking at the stunning photographs, a bit like watching paint dry.
Goodbye to you all, it must be really great to live in Montana, particularly in Greater Falls. Perhaps there are a high percentage of Wallies?
July 10th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Again, he has to insult a whole state because he doesn’t like Walter Greenspan. Who has a small mind?
I always get a kick out of people who claim some sort of innate superiority based upon the fact that they live in this city or that. (Inevitably, it is that their city is bigger than yours.)
I have to admit, living in Chicago, LA, or New York is a very exclusive club. After all, it’s not like anyone who chooses to live there can simply move there. Oh, wait…I guess it is that anyone can simply move there.
July 11th, 2007 at 8:04 am
David, I think he’s a putz. (I think that’s the same in any language.) Glad he doesn’t want to move here.
July 11th, 2007 at 8:41 am
Dona, Montana is the fourth largest state of the USA but ranked 44th (out of 50) for size of population with only Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont Wyoming and DC having less. It would seem that not too many people seem to want to move there (and, most who do, come from outside the USA).
Great Falls is tiny, about one third the size of the small town I moved to. I look out from my windows across the deep blue Mediterranean. The sun shines most days, sometimes it is too hot but then I have my swimming pool in the garden.
We are a vacation town with lots going on all the time, Even at under 200K people, we have a university, a national football team and multiplex movie theaters. We have two live theaters, one outdoors by the sea. Walking along the wide promenade at night and taking a coffee or meal at one of the many outdoor cafes and restaurants, its all a bit much. We do not get excited when they open a new Animal shelter or a restaurant changes its name.
Then there is money. Ours is not a rich town, indeed it also sports soup kitchens and we dig deep into our pockets to support poor immigrants from other countries. I notice from your town hall finance report that the average income per capita in Great Falls is an amount I passed in 1981.
Dona, why would I want to move there? Perhaps to get at Wally, who seems to have gone quiet? I had wanted to stop these exchanges, but I can keep going until David bans me. So much for free speech in a democratic America.
July 11th, 2007 at 9:52 am
I think looking out over the Mediterranean sounds heavenly.
The Mayor of GF calling someone a putz on a blog??? WTF? Don’t you have more important things to do? Oh well, at least you didn’t go over three minutes.
July 11th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Nice teeth Dona, didn’t realize I had attracted the attention of the mayor. So I will try to make sure I am under 3 minutes so as not to be removed by your people.
We, too, have a lady mayor, who has an apartment two doors down from me. She has been in power since 1998 and we all (well most) love her. She came to power when the city was virtually bankrupt. Today we are one of the few not going cap in hand to the national government. Our once scruffy city is now quite beautiful and the new promenade outside my door cost us nothing. Our city taxes remain almost the same yet the services improve.
She raises much of the money to improve the town outside the country, in return she allows outside investors into a new industrial area on the outside of the town at favorable rates. She has attracted such companies as Microsoft and Intel and is determined to resize the town from 195K to 350K in 5 years. The number of apartments going up will meet that target and even Donald Trump is showing interest in building a hotel.
Netanya is not an easy town to live in, At the most narrow part of Israel, it is only 10 miles from the sea to the “wall” and the west bank town of Tul Qaram, from where most terrorists emerge across the world. They have tried to bomb our shopping mall three times and our mayor was but a few yards from one of the bombs when it went off.
But we get on with it and ours is a great town to live in. So, Dona, why in the world would I want to live in your town?
July 11th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
David, you don’t want to live here. I’m sure you wouldn’t like it. We do.
One thing I like about it is that I find other things to do besides come on a message board and insult people who live half way around the world. People who, I might add, you know virtually nothing about.
One of the things I do almost every day is get up and go to work. And for every dollar I make, the US government takes a piece. And for every piece the US government takes from me, it gives some to your country. To the tune, I think, of about 3 BILLION dollars per year. And I wonder if maybe, just maybe, some of that 3 BILLION dollars per year finds its way into your beautiful, perfect little town on the Mediterranean. I wonder if maybe, just maybe, the little promenade outside your door was helped in ever so small a part by my efforts.
So, maybe instead of acting like an elitist, you might act like someone who is truly elite, and show some manners.
July 11th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
I don’t know anything about the problem between David K and Walter, don’t really care. I don’t have the time, energy, or karma for personal attacks.
Honestly, I have not had a great time in Great Falls. I don’t like it here, but the rent is so cheap that I’m staying while I plot my next adventure. GreaterFalls Dave is great, he gives me some hope, and I’m happy he has found a town he loves. i enjoy his blog. ; )
I moved here thinking I would like the small-town experience. Sadly, it is not for me.
July 11th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
I can’t comment on this. I’m too busy laughing at the fact that everyone acts like David (not Kravitz) never heard the phrase “mazel tov” before.
Yes, “putz” works the same in any language when used in the vernacular, but a lot of people say it without knowing the literal translation. (snickering)
July 12th, 2007 at 12:24 am
Wally,
As I said in number 6 above, you are a know-it-all who is NEVER wrong. But as you choose to quote a URL in the posting immediately above, let me quote the URL content.
“An oft-repeated story claims that Ayn Rand took her last name from her Remington Rand typewriter while she was living in Chicago in 1926. This is false and we would like to put the error to rest. While still in Russia, c. 1925, and long before Remington-Rand typewriters were produced, Alisa Rosenbaum had adopted the name ‘Rand.’”
Wally, your parents gave you the right name.
July 12th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Isn’t there enough trouble in this world without having a milkhama/milkhome/war about the vowel sounds and syllable stress of a word? Today I went to the funeral of a 16-month-old baby, who died of a congenital blood disease. Her parents would have been grateful for more mazal, by any pronunciation.
July 12th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
sad grandma is right - which is precisely why Kravitz’s comments are so pathetic. You know the saying: “Can’t we all just get along?”
And by the way — Dona gets two thumbs up from me for calling Kravitz a putz. Yeah, she’s our Mayor and I’m proud of her. She may have some problems with day-to-day operations like any other Mayor does, but at least she’s not a run-of-the-mill milquetoast politician that hides behind cliches and empty words.
July 16th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
So how should I pronounce “putz?”
July 16th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
ajtooley, according to the American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language it’s pŭts.
You can find out what it means by going to http://www.pass.to/glossary/
July 16th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
July 16th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
Wally
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language is hardly the best place to look for the pronunciation of a Yiddish word.
As you have such a busy life, interesting reading on your past history, I have a serious suggestion for you to occupy your time. JewishGen has just republished a list of cemeteries throughout the world. I looked up the USA and find that there are no Jewish cemeteries in Montana listed.
Starting with Great Falls, that should keep you going for some time and would be a great mitzvah.
July 17th, 2007 at 10:46 am
I like turtles.