2024-04-05 14:24
If you ask the average person to name a Jewish food, chances are they’ll say, “bagel!”The ubiquitous roll with a hole originated in the Jewish communities of Poland in the… Read More
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Shmoozing With The Word Mavens Blog
thewordmavens.wordpress.com
Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic write, speak, blog and tweet together as The Word Mavens. They’ve been award-winning writing partners for 20 years – dispensing their advice and opinions on everything from dealing with technology to sneaking out of a party early. Together, they are the authors of the best-selling Dictionary of Jewish Words and The Whole Spiel: Funny essays about digital nudniks, seder selfies and chicken soup memories, a collection of some of their favorite essays. Read about the great schnecken vs. rugelach battle, the newly discovered Jewish holidays of Simchat Squash and Pulke Day and why we’re all oygezoomt these days.
2024-02-18 23:06
Founding Father Thomas Jefferson was a man of many interests. He enjoyed horticulture, architecture, astronomy, and mathematics. He had time to pursue his hobbies because he was a wealthy m… Read More
2023-12-30 19:58
Hanukkah is over. Winter is coming. We can’t stop looking at the “extended winter snow forecast” because we know it’s coming sooner or later. Almost everyone we know… Read More
2023-10-05 15:06
If you don’t know who Jake Cohen is yet, at least you know you can count on The Word Mavens to fill you in on all things trendy, delicious and Jewish. Jake is all of these. A classical… Read More
2023-07-07 03:18
Last week, Joyce was feeling good about treating herself when she ordered a macchiato to go at a trendy Italian cafe. “Just one shot of espresso,” she told the server. But when t… Read More
2023-06-07 19:06
When we heard about a new Netflix show called Jewish Matchmaking – a version of the hit series Indian Matchmaking – we feared the worst. We didn’t know what to expect. Old… Read More
2023-04-01 12:26
While our people have been celebrating Passover for thousands of years, The Word Mavens have been celebrating it (collectively) for only about a century. Still, that’s a lot of matzah… Read More
2023-03-18 01:04
We know that Passover is on the horizon, but exactly how far away is that? Sometimes we don’t even know what today’s date is. No wonder we feel like Passover is sneaking up on us… Read More
2023-02-15 19:32
It all started when a nice lady named Bernice called us. She had hired us last year to do a Zoom Lunch ‘n Learn program for her Pittsburgh synagogue. She wanted to know if we would com… Read More
2022-12-24 18:45
You remember when you bought the box of Super Duper Loopy Fruity cereal that your kid assured you he would eat. In the supermarket he had to have it! He promised to love it! Does anyone want… Read More
2022-11-18 16:44
It’s been many moons since we were banished to sit at the kids table. We have some 40+ years of Thanksgiving dinners under our belts (literally and figuratively!) and looking back over… Read More
2022-09-07 19:22
Grandparents’ Day is this Sunday, September 11. And if you’re hoping to be a grandmother soon or in the future, you have a lot of questions. When can I give the baby a taste… Read More
2022-08-19 20:59
We get a thrill when we spot a Yiddish word out on the highway.
After all, we’re logophiles (lovers of words). When we were writing the Dictionary of Jewish Words, we scoure… Read More
2022-06-03 14:32
Once upon a time there were some 30,000 pay phones in New York City – one on almost every block. Now there are none. Last week, New York City hauled away the last public pay phone.&nbs&hell…Read More
2022-03-23 14:44
We love Wordle for lots of reasons. Unlike other online time wasters, Wordle gives us just one chance a day to play. We can’t fool around with our guesses endlessly, play multiple game… Read More
2021-12-01 16:28
We’re done eating the leftover stuffing, and we’ve wrapped presents for the weekend when we’ll see the kids. We’ve lit the first three candles and it’s Hanukkah… Read More
2021-11-20 18:33
Everyone’s kvetching about prices going up and we’re no exception. It doesn’t help that we did some Thanksgiving food shopping this week. Is cranberry sauce usually $1.79 a… Read More
2021-09-04 00:31
It seems like only yesterday, but it was way back in 2013 when Hanukkah landed on the same day as Thanksgiving. Social media mavens dubbed it “Thanksgivukkah.” Experts told us th… Read More
2021-07-22 17:12
Happy to share an essay that’s a bit outside of the usual Word Mavens topics. Ellen wrote this one – true story!- when she and David ran into a sub-par bag of Tater Tots. And Joy… Read More
2021-06-30 19:57
Who can forget the week in March 2020 when the world shut down? The last friend you hugged. The last time you ate in a restaurant. The last pro basketball game you attended before the season… Read More
2021-04-16 20:54
We’ve always followed that old 5-second rule. We remember when our toddler would drop a grape on the kitchen floor and it rolled under the counter. We’d get down on our hands and… Read More
2021-03-14 17:16
It’s been a horrible year of mixed emotions and isolation.
We’ve grown accustomed to wearing a mask and standing away from the next person in line. Going to th… Read More
2021-03-08 03:49
In January 2020, we wrote a blog titled “Sometimes You Just Need a Good Oy!”
At the time, we had no idea what was to come in the year ahead, and how much we&rsqu&hell…Read More
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