Can Anyone Advise Us on the Origin of the Yiddish Phrase “Touching a Wall”?

A chance to help our language expert.

Got a question for Philologos? Ask him directly at philologos@mosaicmagazine.com.

Isi Unikowski has this query:

My father has always used a peculiar Yiddish expression to refer to living in straitened circumstances, such as when, as a backpacker, I stayed in particularly down-at-heel lodgings in London, or as a warning to my brother and me about some dubious living or work arrangements. This was “Du vest tapn a vant,” literally, “You’ll be touching a wall.”
Can you shed any light on where this expression comes from?

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Got a question for Philologos? Ask him directly at philologos@mosaicmagazine.com.

Isi Unikowski has this query:

My father has always used a peculiar Yiddish expression to refer to living in straitened circumstances, such as when, as a backpacker, I stayed in particularly down-at-heel lodgings in London, or as a warning to my brother and me about some dubious living or work arrangements. This was “Du vest tapn a vant,” literally, “You’ll be touching a wall.”
Can you shed any light on where this expression comes from?

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