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Article: Lake effect.(M.E.M.O)(Editorial)
- Article from:
- The Christian Century
- Article date:
- December 28, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Christian Century Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THIS HAS NOT been a good year for Luftmenschen. Before bidding the year goodbye, let's pay them some attention. The term, the dictionary tells us, is "an adaptation of the Yiddish 'luftmensch,' which breaks down into 'luft' (A Germanic root that can be tied linguistically to the English words 'loft' and 'lofty'), meaning 'air,' plus 'mensch,' meaning 'human being.'" The pioneer Jewish-American novelist Israel Zangwill imported it in 1907, when he described someone who was "not an earth-man.... He was an airman, floating on facile wings.'"
The Luftmensch has floated in and out of my mind since 1962, when I first read "Life in Chicago," an essay by the major ...