New Fic =Some Far-Off Touch

Stargate: Atlantis Sheppard/McKay PG-13

Many, many, many thanks to mecurtin for betaing this.

 Rodney felt the bed dip and John's arms, cold beneath the long sleeves, wraparound him. He reached a decision and turned over inside John'sembrace, pulling him closer in. John shivered and buried his head inRodney's neck, his skin clammy and damp. Rodney, not sure if John waseven awake dared to press a kiss onto his sweaty hair and held him asclose as he could.

Language changing

Once upon a time, there was a name - Juanita. Feminine version of the Spanish name "Juan."

When the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, some of the women had this name, and they took it eastward with them. Over time, it became the Ashkenazi name "Yenta." It had no other special meaning. It was just a name, equivalent to "Jane." It did have a nickname. Yentl, equivalent to "Janie". It did eventually come to have a meaning - a gossip.

Then came the Yiddish stories "Tevye and his Daughters" by Sholem Aleichem. These became the stage and then movie musical "Fiddler on the Roof." One of the characters, who was both a terrible gossip and a matchmaker, was named "Yenta."

And for many, many years, the word "yenta" meant "a gossip." "She's a real yenta, " someone might say of a woman who never got off the phone.

And then, somehow, in the last ten-fifteen years, the meaning changed to "matchmaker." Which is probably a result of the movie.

Meanwhile, Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote a story called, "Yentl the Yeshiva Boy." Which could be translated as "Janie the Yeshiva Boy." And it was made into a movie - and I've seen it used a time or two refering to women pretending to be men - the female version, if you will, of "Tootsie."

And today, I saw this. Somehow, "yentl" has come to mean matchmaker in this person's head.

I am amused.