Quit Yer Bellyachin'
It actually sounds more like "Kwitcher belly-a-kin..." with the emphasis on each of those last syllables and a pause, pregnant with menace, at the end. Is menace too strong a word? Not really. Not if you were the child with the problem and Daddooooo was the first responder. Kvetching , the Yiddish catch-all for complaining, whining, whimpering, pouting behaviors, was unacceptable in my house. The problem arose over what, exactly, constituted kvetching and what was a real complaint. If the blood was flowing, you were allowed to holler. You had to stand still while the damage was assessed and repaired, but a modicum of sniveling was permitted. When I put my hand through the shed window in a futile attempt to dislodge the swollen door and put my bike away before it rained, I was 13 and much too old to cry. I jumped up and down, my eyes rolled in their sockets, I yelled and screamed but I did not cry. I was not bellyaching. I was cu...