And you can harp about the Yiddish you speak vs. the one spoken in Williamsburg for as long as you'd like, but the fact remains that Yiddish as a living language exists only in the Chassidish world - and I'm specifically EXCLUDING Chabad here. Regardless of how well you speak Yiddish, it is simply not the language lingua franca in CH et al today; the version of Yiddish spoken by Chabad is more archaic that what's spoken on the street (for better or for worse).
(And to be a bit pedantic, I haven't met a Yiddish speaker who doesn't know what a פאָר פֿאָלק is. I'll take the liberty to suggest that your accent threw them off.)
I am not harping about the Yiddish I speak vs the one spoken in Williamsburg. FTR when in Williamsburg I try to adapt, though I probably do sound a bit foreign (nothing to do with accent, it's just that I'm never sure when I should mix in the Yiddishized pronunciation of an English word - such as קאפל
). And while I will agree that Yiddish as a living language does indeed exist in the "Chassidish world" - excluding Chabad (though my kids, both boys and girls, specifically go to schools where Yiddish is encouraged and its use rewarded). However at the rate things are going (in KJ and Williamsburg which I visit more often than other "yiddish speaking" communities) English is taking over quite rapidly.
Interestingly, while the Rebbe spoke and had torah published in Yiddish, and it has special status as being the language of רבותינו נשיאינו and the language which was used to deliver תורת החסידות, when it came to teaching children who's native tongue was not Yiddish, the Rebbe was quite clear that learning should take place in the language the children are most comfortable using (as heard in a recording of a private audience with Senator Lautenberg IINM).
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