So on the episode where Archie Bunker is going to be on television to give his opinion of President Nixon, Meathead has him tap the side of the TV to get better reception which causes it go out. Edith notices Mr. Levy the TV repairman across the street and invites him over, but Levy can’t fix the TV just now because he’s an Orthodox Jew and needs to return the van to his job before sundown which is after six o’clock. Archie pleads and tries bribing him but to no avail. Levy says “I’m sorry Mr. Bunker, but I can’t go against my religion.” Archie replies “HEY! Turning down BUSINESS! Ain’t THAT against your religion?” Levy says “Mr. Bunker, I can only answer that insult with an old Jewish phrase” and he proceeds to say something in Yiddish (I believe). Archie asks “What the hell does THAT mean?” to which Levy responds “Oh YOU’LL never know, but believe me, I got even.” Mr. Levy departs as the audience laughs. Okay, does anybody know what Mr. Levy said to Archie and how he got even with it? Let me know.
Closing line:
“(Nixon) won’t have Archie Bunker to kick around anymore!”
Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s correct. My German is just good enough to recognize enough words to confirm it. Something like “you should live in a house with 1000 rooms, and have a [stomach ache? - I hear it as boych vita, the first word comes from the German bauch (belly). Don’t know the 2nd word.] in every room”.
Okay…any ideas why Levy felt he “got even” with Archie by saying something like that?
He could have said, “You have a beautiful voice,” and followed up with, “believe me, I got even,” and the effect would have been the same. He got even by highlighting Archie’s ignorance and making him stumble long enough to not get in the last word.
I have heard a Yiddish curse / insult that goes something like “may you live in a house with a thousand bathrooms and be constipated.”
The clip is used on the second “All in the Family” LP. A translation was provided on the album cover. If memory serves, the curse is, “May you own a thousand room hotel and have a bellyache in every room.”