Survey says…

“According to a Pew poll…”
“A recent AOL survey reports that…”
“A 2007 Gallup Poll supports…”

Did you ever stop and think — hey, who did they actually ask? They didn’t ask me. And I certainly have an opinion!

Here’s your chance:

You are invited to participate in an interesting and entertaining survey about language. Essentially, we’re asking about the spread of Yiddish (and some Hebrew) among English speakers in North America. We’re turning to both Jews and non-Jews to answer questions like these: Who uses Yiddish words like “shmooze” and “daven” and phrases like “Money, shmoney”? Why do some people say “temple” while others say “shul”? Who prefers biblical names for their babies? Your responses will help us answer these and other questions, and you might learn something about yourself in the process. Please set aside 15-20 minutes, and click on this link to participate.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=9eQwWyblG_2b8ixLqbt6QFhg_3d_3d

We are hoping to get thousands of responses from people of all religions, ages, and regions of the United States and Canada. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail Prof. Sarah Bunin Benor or Prof. Steven M. Cohen .

Sincerely,

Prof. Sarah Bunin Benor
Prof. Steven M. Cohen
Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion

It really only does take a few moments of your time. The questions are interesting and might even make you think about how being Jewish affects the way in which you speak. Not to mention the fact that you will be providing important statistics to help these two scholars better understand linguistic trends among contemporary North American Jewry.