Threaded Order Chronological Order
| re: i've always assumed it was "so new?" and it always made sense that way | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 10:19 pm EDT 08/02/20 | |
| In reply to: i've always assumed it was "so new?" and it always made sense that way - Chazwaza 06:35 pm EDT 08/02/20 | |
|
|
|
| Maybe you thought it was "so new" because you were unfamiliar with the Yiddish phrase "so nu," so your mind made "so new?" work in context, but it really doesn't. If that was the meaning, I expect Nathan would say "so what else is new?", the common version of that expression. That said, I just Googled "Sue Me Frank Loesser lyrics," and whoever did the first transcription that came up typed it as "so new." |
|
| reply to this message |
| re: i've always assumed it was "so new?" and it always made sense that way | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 02:55 pm EDT 08/03/20 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 02:49 pm EDT 08/03/20 | |
| In reply to: re: i've always assumed it was "so new?" and it always made sense that way - Michael_Portantiere 10:19 pm EDT 08/02/20 | |
|
|
|
| Yes, I was unfamiliar as I think the majority of audiences ever seeing this musical or listening to it would be. And I don't think most people would think of Nathan as a specifically Jewish character who didn't know this, and many outside nyc would confuse his more Jewish comedic lines as New Yorker speak more than Jewish speak. I know the term no-good-nick, i did not know it was Jewish. I do not know "zo nu?" I think my experience is very common for people listening to or seeing this musical, and likely would have been even when it premiered. It also truly doesn't help that nu is a homonym for the much more well know English word the English speaking audience uses daily, new. It also doesn't help that Nathan being Jewish is written in more as a color of his character and not a context we need to have like Tevye for example. No, actually it really does make sense as "so new?" On that we do not agree. |
|
| reply to this message |
| re: i've always assumed it was "so new?" and it always made sense that way | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 03:48 pm EDT 08/03/20 | |
| In reply to: re: i've always assumed it was "so new?" and it always made sense that way - Chazwaza 02:49 pm EDT 08/03/20 | |
|
|
|
| ***No, actually it really does make sense as "so new?" On that we do not agree.*** Right, we don't agree on that, but I understand and basically agree with everything else you wrote. As I recall, I also was not familiar with "so nu?" or "zo nu" as a Yiddish expression when I first heard "Sue Me" from GUYS AND DOLLS, so I guess I just decided that Nathan meant "So what else is new?" -- the version of the phrase that I'm familiar with -- and Loesser had just shortened it. So I too thought that's what Nathan meant, as you did, it's just that we disagree that "so new?" makes sense in that shortened form :-) |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
Time to render: 0.012335 seconds.