tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13196976.post-5006607535955675742008-03-30T13:36:00.004-04:002008-04-14T02:04:26.868-04:002008-04-14T02:04:26.868-04:00Schelly at Tracing the Tribe <a href="http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/2008/03/ellis-island-myth-and-fact.html" target="_blank">writes today</a> about the old "They changed our name at Ellis Island" myth. The linked article tells the apocryphal story of a Jewish immigrant who ending up with the name "Sean Fergusson."<blockquote>“It’s like this,” the second Jew said. “My name was Moshke Rabinowitz. The first time I arrived at Ellis Island, I failed the eye test, so the doctors sent me back to Europe. There my eyes were treated and cured, and I decided to try again. But what would happen, I thought, if I turned up a second time as the same Moshke Rabinowitz? They’d already know me and send me back again. And so I decided to call myself Yankl Katzenstein. Still, what if someone recognized me? And so there I was, standing in line at Ellis Island and getting more and more nervous all the time, and when it’s finally my turn I’m so flustered that I can’t remember my new name. The immigration official asks me what it is, and I can’t think of it; it’s simply escaped me. ‘Oy, kh’hob shoyn fargesn!’ I say. ‘Sean Fergusson?’ the official repeats, and writes it down on the form.”<br /><br />In Yiddish, of course, kh’hob shoyn fargesn means “I’ve forgotten.” [<a href="http://www.forward.com/articles/12907/" target="_blank">Link</a>]</blockquote>Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01386406270744275223noreply@blogger.com