A lesser scholar than Sadan would have been happy to stop right there with what seems a satisfactory if complicated explanation of kholemoyed' s double entendre. What follows is an etymological tour de force. In today's Yiddish, in any case, the slang meaning of kholemoyed that Sadan remembered from his childhood no longer exists. Neither, a Polish-speaking friend has told me, does zhid chalamai. Sadan's book is out of print, too.
Time marches on.
Enjoy your kholemoyed.