Upon seeing the new dining room chair;
that is the one reserved for me,
I am seized by a lordly desire
to one day sell it
so that later no one would say
"see, that was his chair"
or "these scratches and stains, are from
a time before,
this emptiness, from a time after."
I want it to be sold or
given away, before it's an alteh zach
or before I'm an a.k.
afraid that someday someone will say
"all he does is sit and stare all day....
Nebech."
Sep 22, 2016
Sep 22, 2016 at 9:46 PM UTC
Upon seeing the new dining room chair;
that is the one reserved for me,
I am seized by a lordly desire
to one day sell it
so that later no one would say
"see, that was his chair"
or "these scratches and stains, are from
a time before,
this emptiness, from a time after."
I want it to be sold or
given away, before it's an alteh zach
or before I'm an a.k.
afraid that someday someone will say
"all he does is sit and stare all day....
Nebech."
The title is a Yiddish word that apparently originates from the Czech word NEBOKY according to Leo Rosten. Also pronounced "nebbish". It is a word of sympathy towards a pathetic person. According to Weinreich it means "poor, unfortunate".
Alteh Zach is Yiddish for an "old thing". For example an antique is an alteh zach.
A.K. is the American Yiddish abbreviated version of "alteh kokker" and is a vulgarity meaning an "old **** or curmudgeon.
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