# Yehudi? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 22, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yehudi/365609 "2006-07-22T17:40:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yehudi/365609/1 "2006-07-22T17:40:50Z")
When I was very small my dad held one hand out like a barrier. Then he snapped the fingers of his other hand on alternate sides of this barrier. ‘What’s this?’ he asked? His answer was ‘Mr. and Mrs. Yehudi playing tennis.’ Apparently Yehudi was an invisible man, and so was his wife. What is the origin of the invisible Mr. Yehudi? Why was he invisible? Because it’s easy to blame mishaps on an invisible man? Or because he’s never there when there’s a task to be done? Any connection to Yehudi Menuhin? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yehudi/365609/2 "2006-07-22T17:56:56Z")
Interesting question, since my dad, who grew up in the 1930s, also used to refer to “'Yehudi” as a kind of invisible man. According to [this link](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-yeh1.htm) it was a running gag by Jerry Colonna on the Bob Hope radio show, originating in a guest appearance by Yehudi Menuhin when Colonna was trying to figure out who “Yehudi” was. Perhaps \*\*samclem \*\* will be able to provide more information. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yehudi/365609/3 "2006-07-22T18:43:54Z")
Yehudi and the Blowfish were a popular band of the 1990s. Never saw them in concert, now that I think about it … ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yehudi/365609/4 "2006-07-22T18:50:19Z")
Hey, Yehudi, don’t make it bad… ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yehudi/365609/5 "2006-07-22T18:54:08Z")
> [@](#): > > As I was walking up the stair I met a man who wasn’t there… - **The Yehudi Principle** by [Fredric Brown (1944).](http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredric_Brown) ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yehudi/365609/6 "2006-07-23T03:09:45Z")
And here I thought this would be another Jewish-themed thread. We’ve had a spate of them lately… ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yehudi/365609/7 "2006-07-23T03:44:51Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > - **The Yehudi Principle** by [Fredric Brown (1944).](http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredric_Brown) Shoot yourself. 😛 _The other day, upon the stair I saw a man who wasn’t there. He wasn’t there again today. Oh how I wish he’d go away._ - Ogden Nash ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yehudi/365609/8 "2006-07-23T03:50:47Z")
When I was a kid growing up in the Midwest, my dad and grandpa used to tell me that Yehudi was responsible for turning the light on when the refrigerator door was opened. Of course, I’d never seen it written, so I always thought it was spelled “Yahootie.” ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yehudi/365609/9 "2006-07-23T03:53:22Z")
Well, it’s not too late to make it a Jewish-themed thread. Once, when I was a student of Arabic at The Defense Language Institute in Monterey, one of the native speaker instructors (Lebanese) walked into the classroom during the ribaldry following a particularly humorous joke. When the laughter had subsided, he got a big grin on his face and asked the class, “Maatet Yehudi?” (“Did a Jew just die?”). The demeanor of the classroom changed rapidly as it dawned on us that there is not a small population that considers the only good Jew to be a dead one. He appologized for the crass joke, and went into a discussion of ongoing cultural struggles between Jews and Arabs. Oh…a [possible answer](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-yeh1.htm) to the OP which has already been pointed out. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yehudi/365609/10 "2006-07-23T03:54:19Z")
> [@Rhubarb](#): > > - Ogden Nash [Hughes Mearns,](http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/116.html) actually. It became a [song](http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/t/thelittlemanwhowasntthere.shtml) recorded by Glenn Miller, among others, in 1939. As mentioned in the link I posted, this probably contributed to the Yehudi/invisible man link. Besides talking about Yehudi, my father used to recite the poem, but I’m sure it was from the song lyrics rather than Mearns ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yehudi/365609/11 "2006-07-23T06:13:19Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > [Hughes Mearns,](http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/116.html) actually. > > It became a [song](http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/t/thelittlemanwhowasntthere.shtml) recorded by Glenn Miller, among others, in 1939. As mentioned in the link I posted, this probably contributed to the Yehudi/invisible man link. > > Besides talking about Yehudi, my father used to recite the poem, but I’m sure it was from the song lyrics rather than Mearns Thanks! I did not know that.