Good Reads Library
Enlighten the Gentiles: A Good Time to Define "Potchking Around"
The best-laid schemes o' mice an 'men
Gang aft agley,
An'lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
Robert Burns "To a Mouse"
What does a Scots poem have to do with a Yiddish expression? Read my tale of woe. And know that this is only the FIRST part....
We were supposed to be leaving EARLY to take JR up to Pennsylvania, because we needed to drop her with my parents AND get SC to NY that same day.
Instead, we didn't leave the house in PA till 3:30 in the afternoon and got to NYC so late that we ended up not dropping SC with my in-laws until the following morning.
Why?
The afternoon delays were NOT the Man's fault. But the fact that we didn't get to PA until 2PM I lay squarely at the feet of my spouse.
Which brings me to the Yiddish word potchkeh.
As a noun, a potchkeh (potch) is a little slap on the toches. Generally it doesn't mean a really hard spank, though that "Three Stooges" line about "I'll give you such a PINCH", probably comes from "I'll give you such a potch"-- a threat that many a Yiddish speaking parent made to their kids!
As a verb, potchking is usually followed by the word "around". I haven't had a chance to check my Yiddish bible, Leo Rosten's fabulous The Joys of Yiddish but it seems to come from the Russian and is used to mean "fooling around" or "messing around".
What it implies is "wasting time", doing something that is taking up time and is going to come to nothing.
I can't say that the Man is a full blown potchker. He's not a speed demon--he takes his time doing most things, but that's because he does them methodically and thoroughly. This is why I cook just about always. He can cook well, but let's just say the girls like to eat dinner at dinner time rather than at bedtime and leave it at that...
But somehow, almost every time we travel, he diddles around with stuff and we leave late.
We were supposed to leave for PA by 9. Because of his delays, we weren't well on our way until almost 11 AM.
Ironically, my mother, who is a world champion potchker, ESPECIALLY at meal times, had a cold cut lunch ready and waiting and we were able to eat, get SC and her stuff loaded in the car, say goodbye to JR, and head out by 3:30.
But it was 3:30. And driving in Lancaster County is beautiful but slow. Farm roads. Lots of twisting, turning driving and lots of hills. Slow going.
By the time we got near the shopping areas things were closed, because these places are run by folks who close early on Saturday to get ready for their Sunday sabbath activities.
And by the time we'd realized this, we were already in the area, and it took a considerable amount of time to reach the main highways.
So since my in-laws are early risers and go to bed early, we took SC with us to spend the night up to my parents' empty apartment in the Bronx.
The plan was to leave her down at my in-laws in Manhattan early the next morning. They live near Fairway, a fancy supermarket I love, and there is no parking near their home. So the plan was I'd drop SC and the Man at their home. The Man could visit with my in-laws, I'd go shopping, and then we'd head out back towards Pennsylvania. We'd missed the shopping, but there's a major flea market/antique location that way that's only open on Sundays. And I wanted the Man to have a treat.
That was the plan. But Sunday morning, things "gang aft agley" once more.
But I've spent so much time potchking around explaining Saturday, that I'll stop here and write about Sunday later today.
And until then, abei gezunt!
