Monday, October 31, 2011

The City of Much Noodge

Unless you’re familiar with Yiddish, you may have never heard the brilliantly descriptive term: noodge.

I LOVE that term.

Here are a few definitions I found online:

Noodge: to nag or annoy with constant complaining.

Noodge: to pester, nag, whine.

Noodge: to be nosey, pushy and a general pain in the ass.

I realize that noodges live everywhere in the world, but I would almost bet that the greater percentage of them live right here in Philadelphia.

Whenever I think of a noodge, I envision Alice Pearce from the TV show, Bewitched.


Noodges are people who are always in your business.

Always stickin' their nose where it doesn’t belong.

And they're not doing this out of genuine concern, they're doing this because they're just plain NOSEY and want to gossip about it with their next door neighbor. Who, which by the way, also gossips about THEM.

Noodges are always handing out free advice and telling you what to do. And while they’re telling you what to do, it feels as though they’re jabbing their index finger into your shoulder, and saying, “YOU. NEED. TO. DO. THIS!”

Noodges don’t comprehend the meaning of personal boundaries.

Noodges also COMPLAIN a lot.

They can‘t wait until summer gets here and then they complain about the heat. They complain about the cold of winter. They complain about the snow. And they complain about the rain. The only time they don’t complain is when it’s 75 degrees, zero humidity, sunny, and the barometric pressure is perfect.

And just to give you an example of how NOODGIE this city is, I want to share something that happened to me a few weeks ago while I was out taking a few photographs.

I was down in Society Hill, which is a gorgeous historical part of Philadelphia, yet it’s also the most uppity part of town. It’s primarily full of Philadelphia natives with blue blood, who think that only other people with blue blood have the right to be there.

Society Hills is beautiful, yet it’s clearly unto itself.

Anyway, I was standing on the sidewalk with my camera; getting ready to take a photograph of a PUBLIC garden, when this woman suddenly stuck her head out her front door and just STARED at me.

I smiled and said, “Hello!” However, she didn’t respond. But instead, slammed the door.

About a minute later, she opened her front door again and STARED at me with these suspicious eyes, as if I was a serial killer or daytime home-robber.

I said “Hello” again, but got another door slammed at me.

Finally, after the third time of opening her front door and STARING at me, I said, “Excuse me, but do you have a problem?”

She flusteredly replied, “No-o.”

I said, “Then why do you keep staring at me? All I‘m doing is taking a picture. And for your information, I LIVE in this city, therefore have just as much right to be here as you do.”

Just then....*SLAM!*

Noodge: to be nosey, pushy and a general pain in the ass.

Yup….that pretty much sums it up.

*So tell me, have you ever experienced a noodge?