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To: meg88

BTTT


78 posted on 04/17/2007 8:42:34 AM PDT by ZinGirl
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To: ZinGirl
Mensch (Yiddish מענטש; also mentsch, mentsh, mensh, or mench, plural: mentschen, German plural: Menschen) is a German noun meaning a "human".

In Yiddish (from which the word has migrated into American English), mensch roughly means "a good person." A role model. A "mensch" is a particularly good person, like "a stand-up guy," a person with the qualities one would hope for in a dear friend or trusted colleague. According to author and Yiddish popularist Leo Rosten

[A] mensch is a someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character. The key to being "a real mensch" is nothing less than character, rectitude, dignity, a sense of what is right, responsible, decorous. (Rosten, Leo. 1968. The Joys of Yiddish. New York: Pocket Books. 237)

The correct German spelling is Mensch (singular, meaning non-judgmental human or man), Menschen (for the plural and for the singular accusative) and Menschlichkeit ("humanity").

In Modern Israeli Hebrew, the phrase Ben Adam is used as an exact translation of Mensch. Though it literally means "Son of Adam'" the phrase is used for both men and women. Depending on the context, it means either a "person" in general, or specifically a Mensch.

79 posted on 04/17/2007 8:43:48 AM PDT by meg88
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