You Say Bagel, I say Beigel
In last week’s post, Plain Talk on the Bagel, I did not get around to addressing the transatlantic dispute regarding the more accurate transliteration and pronunciation of the beloved roll-with-a-hole:
Should it be spelled b-e-i-g-e-l, according to the proud loyalists of London’s Brick Lane, or should it be b-a-g-e-l, more closely reflecting how it’s written and spoken in New York, Montréal and North America?
As a New York Jew in London without any particular expertise or conviction, much less a death wish, I gave the question considerable thought before ducking it altogether. But this hardly made the matter go away and so I sought a definitive answer from the Yiddish scholar Dovid Katz.
With discretion or cowardice (your call), I am sharing Professor Katz’s response to a smaller audience consisting only of paid subscribers to my Substack newsletter.
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