Oy vey (Yiddish: אױ װײ), or just oy,[1] is an exclamation of dismay or exasperation [1] meaning "woe." Its sound is very similar to Au weh, a common expression used in Bavaria and Austria in similar situations, combining the German exclamation Au! meaning "Ouch" and the German word Weh meaning pain. It is however also theorized that the first part of it (oy) is originally from Biblical Hebrew, with cognates in other Semitic languages.[citation needed] Vey and the similar contemporary German Weh are derived from Middle High German, and are cognate with the English "woe." The term in its present form is borrowed from Yiddish,[2] and is often described as "defying translation"[3] or being an "untranslatable expression"[4] but which is described in the Random House Unabridged Dictionary as being "used to express dismay, pain, annoyance, grief, etc."[1] and the Oxford English dictionary describes it as an "exclamation used by Yiddish-speakers to express dismay or grief".[3] In 2001, California State Assembly Speaker, Robert Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), compiled a 31-page Yiddish dictionary for his colleagues and of the phrase "oy vey" he wrote that it was "an untranslatable expression used for a variety of negative feelings."[4] This interjection is first noted in English between 1890 and 1895.[1]
A related exclamation is oy vey iz mir – "Oh, woe is me", or in German "Au weh ist mir" (Yiddish: אױ װײ'ז מיר) – or just vey iz mir (װײ'ז מיר). Another related expression is oy gevalt – "woe is me", or in German "Au Gewalt" (Yiddish: אױ גװאַלד oy gvald) – which can have a similar meaning, or also express shock or amazement. Oy! is often just used by itself to express any of these feelings.
Use in popular culture
A sign at the border of Brooklyn (2006).
- In New York City, there is a sign on the Williamsburg Bridge which reads "Leaving Brooklyn: Oy vey!", due to the borough's large Jewish population.[5]
- In the early-1960s American TV series McHale's Navy, the Japanese POW who is under the care of McHale's men, "Fuji", often utters the exclamation whenever Lieutanant Commander McHale's superior officer, Capt. Binghamton, comes to McHale's quarters.
- In 1992, the band Tin Machine released a live album titled Tin Machine Live: Oy Vey, Baby, a joke on U2's Achtung, Baby.[6][7]
- In the first Futurama movie, Bender's Big Score, Bender can be heard uttering the phrase after Fry, who is trying to stop a wedding, replaces the pen which was to be used to sign the marriage license with a pen with no ink.
- In The Simpsons episode "Like Father, Like Clown," Krusty's father, Rabbi Hyman Krustofski, cries out "Oy vey iz mir!" when his son's identity is revealed at a comedy club.[8]
- Weird Al Yankovic's song "Pretty Fly For A Rabbi" on his album Running With Scissors frequently uses the phrase.[9]
- There is a Jewish parody of James Bond who is called "Oy Oy Seven".[10][11]
- In Leo Rosten's The Joys of Yiddish, he says that a woman in labor who is crying "Oy!" is not yet ready for the doctor. Once she yells "Gevalt!" then it's time.[12]
- In Madagascar, Gloria the hippo mutters it during a conversation with King Julien of the Lemurs.[13]
- In Shark's Tale, Don Lino says so while speaking with Sykes, after Luca, his aide, has selected a wrong track on an LP.
- In What Women Want, when Mel Gibson's character is in his marital counselor's (Bette Midler) office and he hears what she thinks, she thinks "Oy Vey." He then says, "You can say that again."
- In Hercules, Phil exclaims while walking away "Okay, Oh Boy, Oy vey."
- In Fame: The Musical, Serena exclaims "oy vey" when she is told that her offstage love interest Nick will be playing Mercutio instead of her onstage lover Romeo in their school's production of Romeo and Juliet.
- In D2: The Mighty Ducks, Ken Wu mutters it during the final Iceland game as an Iceland player skates behind him.
- The Fuji Kobiaji character in McHale's Navy used the phrase extensively to express his exasperation.
- Radio personality Howard Stern frequently uses the phrase on his show to express disgust or frustration.
- The phrase Oy vey is used in the Monty Python song "Oliver Cromwell".
- In the US version of The Office, in the episode "Valentine's Day," for the final scene, character Michael Scott, who is noted for making unfunny jokes that he thinks are quite funny (but are often just politically incorrect) stands outside Minskoff Theatre in New York City, (playing Fiddler on the Roof), and says "Oy vey" and then after a long comedic pause concludes with "schmear", mistakeningly meaning to say "oy vey iz mir".[14]
- "Oy gevalt" is the second to last line in the Perry Mason TV Series episode 1-19, "The Case of the Haunted Husband," originally aired January 25, 1958.[15] At the end of the case after the killer has been exposed, Lieutenant Tragg is gloating that Perry Mason must have discovered who did it by being lucky. Perry Mason asks Tragg if he thinks Mason is stupid for leaving a clue that Tragg found. Tragg says, "Well who else could have done it? There was only you, me, and (name of killer)...." When he realizes what he just said, Tragg moans, "Oy gevalt." The elevator door opens and Mason says, "After you Lieutenant."
- In the popular British sitcom 'Allo 'Allo! Season 1, Episode 3, Private Helga Geerhart exclaims "Oy vey" to express her surprise when she hears that Colonel Von Strohm and Captain Hans Gehring are having their army uniforms made in London by Jewish tailors Solomon & Klein, the Colonel and the Captain look at her in surprise to which she sheepishly replies "Whatever that means".
- In the comic strip Oy, the main protagonist is named "Oy" due to his sometimes frustrating behavior.[16]
- In the 1979 film "The Frisco Kid", wild-west bank robber Tommy Lillard (played by Harrison Ford) informs Polish rabbi Avram Belinski (played by Gene Wilder) that "sheee-it" is the English equivalent of "oy gevalt".
- In the Quantum Leap episode 'Thou Shalt Not' Sam Beckett says "Oy Vey, I'm the Rabbi"
- The book by Rabbi Simcha Weinstein about the Jewish roots of comic book superheroes is titled Up Up and Oy Vey : How Jewish History, Culture and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero, a pun on Superman's flying catchphrase "Up up and away"
- On the original Electric Company, Jennifer of the Jungle's catchphrase was a shouted "Oy oy oy oy oy oy oy!", which actress Judy Graubart, who is herself Jewish, based on the commonly heard exclamation.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Oy Definition - Random House Unabridged Dictionary and Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English
- ^ CNN - CNN - January 19, 2004
- ^ a b The Guardian - The Guardian - January 20, 2004
- ^ a b Los Angeles Business Journal - June 18, 2001
- ^ New York Times - NYT - "JIM RUTENBERG", February 25, 2006, "In September, a new sign went up on the Williamsburg Bridge, and it won national notice as another example of New York City's singularly abrasive charm: Leaving Brooklyn, Oy Vey! The sign, the brainchild of the Brooklyn borough president, Marty Markowitz, gained attention in newspapers as far away as Pittsburgh and Kansas City."
- ^ Boston Globe - Boston Globe April 10, 1992
- ^ Amazon - Tin Machine Live: Oy Vey, Baby by David Bowie
- ^ The Simpsons, "Like Father, Like Clown" Transcript
- ^ CNN - CNN - "Weird Al: Living up to his name": July 12, 1999
- ^ NYT New York Times Book Review - September 3, 1965 - "by So/ Weinstein, called 'Loxfinger,' which introduces Israel Bond, the Hebrew Secret Agent whose number is 'Oy Oy seven.'"
- ^ Independent (Newspaper) - October 17, 1968, Long Beach, California - "....Wherein Israel Bond, Agent Oy Oy Seven, pulls off his final caper for the Israel M33 and 1-3 Bureau..."
- ^ ROSTEN OBIT National Public Radio - NPR - February 20, 1997 (subscription required)
- ^ Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Pittsburgh Post Gazette/The Wall Street Journal - by Michael M. Phillips - May 6, 2005
- ^ Office Quotes
- ^ As of March 2008 available online at Veoh.com
- ^ http://www.oycomics.com
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