Thursday, 3 July 2014

Women are Angels...... in more ways than one

Yiddish Language and Culture

Yiddish Language and Culture
Yiddish (in Yiddish)

Level: Basic
• Yiddish was the language of Ashkenazic Jews, but not Sephardic Jews
• Yiddish is based on German, Hebrew and other languages
• Yiddish uses an alphabet based on Hebrew
• There are standards for transliterating Yiddish
• Yiddish was criticized as a barrier to assimilation
• Yiddish developed rich literature, theater and music
S'iz shver tsu zayn a Yid (in Yiddish)S'iz shver tsu zayn a Yid
(It's tough to be a Jew)
      - Yiddish folk saying

1798[Yiddish] ... a language without rules, mutilated and unintelligible without our circle, must be completely abandoned.
      - David Friedlander, a member of the Haskalah Jewish enlightenment movement
1978Yiddish has not yet said its last word.
      - Isaac Bashevis Singer, upon receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature for his writings in Yiddish

The Yiddish Language

Yiddish was at one time the international language of Ashkenazic Jews (the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe and their descendants). A hybrid of Hebrew and medieval German, Yiddish takes about three-quarters of its vocabulary from German, but borrows words liberally from Hebrew and many other languages from the many lands where Ashkenazic Jews have lived. It has a grammatical structure all its own, and is written in an alphabet based on Hebrew characters. Scholars and universities classify Yiddish as a Germanic language, though some have questioned that classification.
Yiddish was never a part of Sephardic Jewish culture (the culture of the Jews of Spain, Portugal, the Balkans, North Africa and the Middle East). They had their own international language known as Ladino or Judesmo, which is a hybrid of medieval Spanish and Hebrew in much the same way that Yiddish combines German and Hebrew.
At its height less than a century ago, Yiddish was understood by an estimated 11 million of the world's 18 million Jews, and many of them spoke Yiddish as their primary language. Yiddish has fallen on hard times, a victim of both assimilation and murder. Today, less than a quarter of a million people in the United States speak Yiddish, about half of them in New York. Most Jews know only a smattering of Yiddish words, and most of those words are unsuitable for polite company. But in recent years, Yiddish has experienced a resurgence and is now being taught at many universities. There are even Yiddish Studies departments at Columbia and Oxford, among others, and many Jewish communities provide classes to learn Yiddish. Many Jews today want to regain touch with their heritage through this nearly-lost language.
Yiddish is referred to as "mame loshn" ("loshn" rhymes with "caution"), which means "mother tongue," although it is not entirely clear whether this is a term of affection or derision. Mame loshn was the language of women and children, to be contrasted with loshn koydesh, the holy tongue of Hebrew that was studied only by men. (And before the feminists start grinding their axes, let me point out that most gentile women and many gentile men in that time and place could not read or write at all, while most Jewish women could at least read and write Yiddish).
The word "Yiddish" is the Yiddish word for "Jewish," so it is technically correct to refer to the Yiddish language as "Jewish" (though it is never correct to refer to Hebrew as "Jewish"). At the turn of the century, American Jews routinely referred to the Yiddish language as "Jewish," and one of my elderly aunts continues to do so. However, that usage has become unfashionable in recent years and people are likely to think you are either ignorant or bigoted if you refer to any language as "Jewish." Likewise, the Yiddish word "Yid" simply means "Jew" and is not offensive if used while speaking Yiddish or in a conversation liberally sprinkled with Yiddish terms, but I wouldn't recommend using the word in English because it has been used as an offensive term for far too long.

The History of Yiddish

It is generally believed that Yiddish became a language of its own some time between 900 and 1100 C.E., but it is difficult to be certain because in its early days, Yiddish was primarily a spoken language rather than a written language. It is clear, however, that at this time even great biblical scholars like Rashi were using words from local languages written in Hebrew letters to fill in the gaps when the Hebrew language lacked a suitable term or when the reader might not be familiar with the Hebrew term. For example, in his commentary on Gen. 19:28, when Rashi comes across the Hebrew word qiytor (a word that is not used anywhere else in the Bible), he explains the word by writing, in Hebrew letters, "torche b'la-az" (that is, "torche in French").
It is believed that Yiddish began similarly, by writing the local languages in the Hebrew characters that were more familiar to Yiddish speakers, just as Americans today often write Hebrew in Roman characters (the letters used in English).
The Yiddish language thrived for many centuries and grew farther away from German, developing its own unique rules and pronunciations. Yiddish also developed a rich vocabulary of terms for the human condition, expressing our strengths and frailties, our hopes and fears and longings. Many of these terms have found their way into English, because there is no English word that can convey the depth and precision of meaning that the Yiddish word can. Yiddish is a language full of humor and irony, expressing subtle distinctions of human character that other cultures barely recognize let alone put into words. What other language distinguishes between a shlemiel (a person who suffers due to his own poor choices or actions), a shlimazl (a person who suffers through no fault of his own) and a nebech (a person who suffers because he makes other people's problems his own). An old joke explains the distinction: a shlemiel spills his soup, it falls on the shlimazl, and the nebech cleans it up!
As Jews became assimilated into the local culture, particularly in Germany in the late 1700s and 1800s, the Yiddish language was criticized as a barbarous, mutilated ghetto jargon that was a barrier to Jewish acceptance in German society and would have to be abandoned if we hoped for emancipation. Yiddish was viewed in much the same way that people today view Ebonics (in fact, I have heard Yiddish jokingly referred to as "Hebonics"), with one significant difference: Ebonics is criticized mostly by outsiders; Yiddish was criticized mostly by Jews who had spoken it as their native language. Thus the criticism of Yiddish was largely a manifestation of Jewish self-hatred rather than antisemitism.
At the same time that German Jews were rejecting the language, Yiddish was beginning to develop a rich body ofliteraturetheater and music.

Yiddish Literature

From the earliest days of the language, there were a few siddurim (prayer books) for women written in Yiddish, but these were mostly just translations of existing Hebrew siddurim.
The first major work written originally in Yiddish was Tsena uRena (Come Out and See), more commonly known by a slurring of the name as Tsenerena. Written in the early 1600s, Tsenerena is a collection of traditional biblical commentary and folklore tied to the weekly Torah readings. It was written for women, who generally did not read Hebrew and were not as well-versed in biblical commentary, so it is an easier read than some of the Hebrew commentaries written for men, but it still packs a great deal of theological rigor. Translations of this work are still in print and available from Artscroll Publishers.
In the mid-1800s, Yiddish newspapers began to appear, such as Kol meVaser (Voice of the People), Der Hoyzfraynd (The Home Companion), Der Yid (The Jew), Di Velt (The World) and Der Fraynd (The Friend), as well as socialist publications like Der Yidisher Arbeter (The Jewish Worker) and Arbeter-Shtime (Workers' Voice). Some Yiddish language newspapers exist to this day, including Forverts (the Yiddish Forward), founded in 1897 and still in print, both in English and Yiddish versions.
At about the same time, secular Jewish fiction began to emerge. The religious authorities of that time did not approve of these irreverent Yiddish writings dealing with modern secular and frivolous themes. Some strictly observant people refused to even set type for these writers because they were so offended by their works, but Jewish people throughout Europe embraced them wholeheartedly.
The first of the great Yiddish writers of this period was Sholem Yankev Abramovitsch, known by the pen name Mendele Moykher Sforim (little Mendel, the bookseller). Abramovitsch was a respected writer in Hebrew and used the pen name when writing in the second-class language of Yiddish. He wrote stories that were deeply rooted in folk tradition but focused on modern characters. Perhaps his greatest work is his tales of Benjamin the Third, which is thematically similar to Don Quixote. Mendele's works gave Yiddish a literary legitimacy and respectability that it was lacking before that time. I have been told that there is a street in Jerusalem called Mendele Mocher Sefarim Street.
The next of the great Yiddish writers was Yitzhak Leib Peretz. (I.L. Peretz). Like Mendele, his stories often had roots in Jewish folk tradition, but favored a modern viewpoint. He seemed to view tradition with irony bordering on condescension.
Perhaps the Yiddish writer best known to Americans is Solomon Rabinovitch, who wrote under the name Sholem Aleichem (a Yiddish greeting meaning, "peace be upon you!"). Sholem Aleichem was a contemporary of Mark Twain and is often referred to as "the Jewish Mark Twain," although legend has it that Mark Twain, upon meeting Sholem Aleichem, described himself as "the American Sholem Aleichem"! Americans know Sholem Aleichem for his tales of Tevye the milkman and his daughters, which were adapted into the musical Fiddler on the Roof. How true is the musical to the stories? Based on my readings of the stories, I would say that Fiddler is a faithful adaptation of the plotlines of the Tevye stories, but the theme of "tradition" that pervades the musical is artificially imposed on the material. The stories certainly turn on the tension between the old world and the modern world, but Tevye's objections to his daughters' marriages are not merely because of tradition. For example, in the original stories, Tevye opposes Hodel's marriage to Ferfel not so much because of tradition, but because Ferfel is being sent to prison for his socialist political activities! Also, there is no fiddler in Sholem Aleichem's stories.
One last Yiddish writer deserves special note: Isaac Bashevis Singer (middle name pronounced "buh-SHEH-viss"), who in 1978 won a Nobel Prize for Literature for his writings in Yiddish. He gave his acceptance speech in both Yiddish and English, and spoke with great affection of the vitality of the Yiddish language. Singer was born in Poland, the son of a Chasidic rabbi. He wrote under his full name, Isaac Bashevis Singer or I.B. Singer, to avoid confusion with his older and (at the time) better-known brother, Israel Joshua Singer, who wrote as I. Singer. Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote mostly short stories, but also some novels and stories for children. Like the others, his stories tended to deal with the tension between traditional views and modern times. Many of these are available in print in English. Perhaps the best known of his many writings is Yentl the Yeshiva Boy, which was adapted into a stage play in 1974 and later loosely adapted into a movie starring Barbara Streisand. It is worth noting that although the movie was quite popular, Singer hated the movie and wrote a brutal editorial in the New York Times about it (January 29, 1984). He thought that Streisand placed too much emphasis on the Yentl character (which she played) to the exclusion of other characters, and that her revised ending (Yentl immigrating to America instead of moving on to another Polish religious school) was untrue to the character.

Yiddish Theater

Yiddish culture has a rich theatrical tradition. It has been suggested that Yiddish theater began with the "Purimshpil," outrageous comedic improvisational plays based on the biblical book of Esther, performed insynagogues by amateurs as part of the drunken festivities related to the Purim holiday.
Professional Yiddish theater began with Abraham Haim Lipke Goldfaden, who wrote, produced and directed dozens of Yiddish plays in the last quarter of the 19th century. Goldfaden and his troupe traveled throughout Europe performing Yiddish plays for Jewish audiences, and later moved to New York City where they opened a theater.
Many traveling Yiddish theater groups also performed Yiddish versions of existing plays, most notably Shakespeare and Goethe. With apologies to Star Trek fans ... Shakespeare's Hamlet cannot be fully appreciated until it is seen in the original Yiddish.
Permanent Yiddish theaters sprung up in cities around the world, including Odessa, Vilna and New York City. In New York, Yiddish theater was jump-started by 12-year-old immigrant Boris Thomashefsky, who fell in love with the European Yiddish show tunes sung by his coworkers in a tobacco sweatshop. He persuaded a rich tavern owner to finance the endeavor and introduced Yiddish theater to New York with an Abraham Goldfaden play in 1881. Over the next few decades, Yiddish theater grew substantially in New York, but most of these theaters no longer exist. New York's Folksbiene Yiddish Theater, founded in 1915, is the oldest continuous venue for Yiddish theatre in the world and continues to have an active calendar of Yiddish-language productions, now with "English supertitles" at all performances.
Yiddish plays tended to be melodramas with strong traditional Jewish values, often with song and dance numbers incorporated into the serious plots. Yiddish theater also included many comedies, in America often focusing on intergenerational conflicts between the immigrants and their American-born children.

Yiddish Music

Like Yiddish theater, Yiddish music ultimately has its roots in Jewish religion. The Jewish love of music is seen in the earliest stories in the Bible: in Exodus 15, both Moses and Miriam lead the Children of Israel in song after G-d drowns the pursuing Egyptians in the sea; King David is often portrayed playing musical instruments. Music is an integral part of Jewish worship: most of the prayers are sung or chanted. Even the Torah is read to a traditional chant. It has been customary for hundreds of years for synagogues to have a professional chazzan, a person with musical skills to lead the song-filled prayer services.
Yiddish culture has produced a wealth of music, from lullabies to love songs, from mournful songs of loss and exile to the wild dance music of klezmer.
Yiddish music traditionally was played on string instruments (fiddle, viola, etc.), the tsimbl (a Jewish instrument similar to a dulcimer) and flute, perhaps because these instruments were relatively quiet and would not attract the attention of hostile gentiles. In later days, however, the clarinet became a staple of Yiddish music because of it's ability to emulate the wailing or laughing sound of the human voice.
The style of music most commonly associated with Yiddish culture is klezmer. The word "klezmer" comes from the Hebrew words "klei zemer" which means "instruments of song," and probably indicates the important role that instruments played in this kind of music. You've probably heard klezmer music in the background of television shows or movies featuring Jews: it is normally characterized by the wailing, squealing sounds of clarinets. It has also influenced some modern bands: I was in a bookstore a while ago and heard what I thought was klezmer music, only to be told it was Squirrel Nut Zipper! The klezmer style is based on cantoral singing in synagogue: simple melodies in a minor key with extensive ornamentation, such as fast trills and sliding notes. It's hard to explain unless you've heard it.
You can hear some traditional Yiddish music in the samples of Best of Yiddish Songs and Klezmer Music on Amazon.com. The track Doyne/Kiever Freylekhs is a particularly good example of klezmer dance music.

Alef-Beyz: The Yiddish Alphabet

Oy Vey (in Yiddish)Yiddish is written with Hebrew letters, but the letters are used somewhat differently than in Hebrew. In fact, the first time I saw the familiar Yiddish phrase "oy vey" written in Yiddish letters, I thought the spelling must be a mistake!
The Yiddish alphabet is called the alef-beyz for its first two letters.
The biggest difference between the Hebrew alefbet and the Yiddish alef-beyz is in the use of vowels: in Hebrew, vowels and other pronunciation aids are ordinarily not written, and when they are written, they are dots and dashes added to the text in ways that do not affect the physical length of the text. In Yiddish, however, many of the Hebrew letters have been adapted to serve as vowels and the pronunciation aids in Hebrew are reflected in the consonants. Vowels and other pronunciation aids are always written unless the Yiddish word comes from Hebrew, in which case the Yiddish word is written as it is in Hebrew, without the vowel points but with the dagesh (dot in the middle).
Shabbesdik (in Yiddish)When a Hebrew word is combined with a Yiddish suffix, the Hebrew part is spelled as in Hebrew and the Yiddish part as in Yiddish. For example, the Yiddish word "Shabbesdik" (for theSabbath; festive) combines the Hebrew word Shabbat (Sabbath), spelled as in Hebrew, with the Yiddish adjective suffix "-dik" (set aside for, suitable for, in the mood for, "-ish"), spelled as in Yiddish.
In addition, some of the most common Hebrew letters are rarely used in Yiddish, being used only if the Yiddish word comes from Hebrew. These rarely-used letters all have the same sound as another Hebrew letter, and reducing their use simplifies spelling when bringing words in from languages that weren't originally written using these letters. For example, there are three different Hebrew letters that make the sound "s": Samekh, Sin and the soft sound of Tav (according to Ashkenazic pronunciation). Which one do you use? It depends on the origin of the word. Words brought in from Hebrew use the original Hebrew spelling, which may be any of these three letters, but words brought in from other languages will always use Samekh. The word vaser (water, from the German wasser) is spelled with a Samekh, but the word simkhah (celebration, from Hebrew) is spelled with a Sin and the word Shabbes (Sabbath, from Hebrew) ends with a Sof.
The illustration below shows the Yiddish alphabet. You may wish to review the Hebrew alphabet to see the differences.
Yiddish Alphabet
To hear how these letters are pronounced, check out the alef-beyz page on YIVO's website (requires Real Player), which pronounces the name of the Yiddish letter, then a Yiddish word that begins with the sound, then the English translation of that word. Unfortunately, YIVO lacks audio for many of the vowel sounds, but they provide explanations of pronunciation.
Here some things to notice:
  • The letter Alef, which is always silent in Hebrew, has three versions in Yiddish: one that is silent, one that is pronounced "ah" (like the "a" in "father"), and one that is pronounced "o" or "aw" (a bit like the "o" in "or" or "more").
  • In Hebrew, Vav can be pronounced as V, O (as in home) or U (like the oo in room). In Yiddish, Vov alone is pronounced "u"; a Double-Vov is pronounced "v," and the nearest equivalent of the Hebrew "o" sound is the "oy" sound of Vov-Yud.
  • In Yiddish, the letter Yud can be pronounced as a "y" sound (as in "yellow") or a short "i" sound (as in "it"); in Hebrew, it is always either a "y" sound or silent (identifying and modifying a preceding vowel).
  • There are combinations of letters in Yiddish to account for consonant sounds that do not exist in Hebrew, such as zh (like the second "g" in "garage" or the "s" in "measure"), dzh (j as in judge) and tsh (like the "ch" in chair).
  • Combinations of Vov and Yud are used to handle additional vowel sounds.
  • Melupm Vov and Khirek Yud are used to clarify that the Vov or Yud is not to be combined with an adjacent letter into a different pronunciation. For example Double-Yud is a letter combination pronounced as the "ey" in "they," but the word "Yiddish" begins with two separate Yuds: one for the Y and one for the i. To clarify that these Yuds are not combined into an "ey" sound, the word Yiddish begins with a Yud, then a Khirek Yud. See the illustration in the heading of this page.
  • As in Hebrew, some letters are drawn differently when they occur at the end of the word. Most of these letters are named "langer" (longer) because, well, they are! The final version of Mem, which is not longer, is named Shlos Mem.
  • In Hebrew, the dot in the middle of Kaf, Pei and Tav and on top of Sin is written only in pointed texts. In Yiddish, it is always written. Note that Shin in Yiddish, unlike Hebrew, never uses a dot. Remember, though, that Kof, Sin and Tof are rarely used in Yiddish.
  • The Yiddish letter Sof is equivalent to the soft sound of the Hebrew letter Tav, which is used inAshkenazic pronunciation but is not used in Sephardic pronunciation. Remember, though, that Sof is rarely used in Yiddish.

Yiddish Transliteration

Transliteration is the process of writing a language in a different alphabet than its native alphabet. The Yiddish language began by transliterating Germanic words into the Hebrew alphabet, so I find it unspeakably amusing that we now take Yiddish and convert it back into the original alphabet!
In Yiddish, unlike Hebrew, there is a widely-accepted standard for transliterating Yiddish into the Roman alphabet (the alphabet used in English). This standard was developed by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, the recognized world authority on Yiddish language, history and culture. Although the YIVO standard is widely accepted in general, it is routinely ignored for Yiddish words that have a widely-used, familiar spelling. For example, a certain Yiddish word appears in many American dictionaries spelled "chutzpah," but the correct YIVO transliteration would be "khutspe"!

A Few Useful Yiddish Words

Here are a few fun Yiddish or Yiddish-derived words that would not require your mother to wash your mouth out with soap. Many of them have found their way into common English conversation. Most of them are spelled as I commonly see them, rather than in strict accordance with YIVO transliteration rules. I've tried to focus on words that are less commonly heard in English (gentile English, anyway).
Bupkes (properly spelled bobkes and pronounced "BAUB-kess," but I usually see it spelled this way and pronounced to rhyme with "pup kiss")
Literally means "beans" in Russian; usually translated as "nothing," but it is used to criticize the fact that an amount is absurdly smaller than expected or deserved. Examples: "I was assigned to work on that project with Mike and he did bupkes!" or "I had to change jobs; the work wasn't bad, but they paid bupkes."
Chutzpah (rhymes with "foot spa", with the throat-clearing "kh" sound)
Nerve, as when the Three Stooges say, "The noive of that guy!!! Why, I oughta…" It expresses an extreme level of bold-faced arrogance and presumption. Example: "She asked me to drive her home, and once we were on the road she told to stop at the supermarket so she could pick something up. What chutzpah!"
Frum (like "from," but with the "u" sound in "put"; sort of sounds like the imitation of a car noise: brrrum-brrrum, but not vroom like in the car commercials)
Observant of Jewish law. Almost always used to describe someone else; almost never to describe yourself. "He wasn't raised very strict, but when he went away to college he became very frum." The Yiddish name "Fruma," derived from this word, was once quite popular.
Nu (rhymes with "Jew")
An all-purpose word that doesn't really mean anything, like "well," "so" or "wassup?" I usually hear it as a prompt for a response or explanation. A friend of mine who worked for a Jewish history museum joked that they answered the phone "Jew mu, nu?" When someone takes too long to respond in an online chat or trails off in the middle of a thought, I might type "nu?" (are you still there? are you answering?) If someone says something that doesn't seem to make any sense, you might say, "nu?" (what's that supposed to mean?)
Shmutz (rhymes with "puts")
Dirt. Refers to a trivial amount of nuisance dirt, not real filth. Example: "You have some shmutz on your shirt; brush it off."
Shmooze (rhymes with "booze")
Having a long, friendly chat. Can be used as a noun, but is usually used as a verb. Examples: "Come to our party! Eat, drink and shmooze!" or "Our salesman is very good at shmoozing the clients."
Tchatchke (almost rhymes with "gotcha")
1) Little toys; knick-knacks. 2) A pretty young thing, like a trophy wife. Examples: "The collector had so many tchatchkes that he had to buy a bigger house!" or "when my mother visits, she always brings tchatchkes for the kids" or "The boss divorced his wife; now he's dating some little tchatchke." The Yiddish spelling of the word uses the letter Tsadek, so it should be pronounced "tsatske," but I've always heard the word pronounced as if it were the "ch" in "chair."
There are many Yiddish sites on the web and many of them maintain a better list of links than I could ever hope to. I will point out only a few that I find useful, along with their links to other sites.
Forverts is a weekly American Jewish newspaper written in Yiddish. This is an excellent source if you want to try reading some useful, day-to-day Yiddish. It is written in the Yiddish alphabet, not transliteration.
The Yiddish Voice is a weekly Yiddish-language radio show based in the Boston area, which is available on streaming audio over the Internet. Their site has a nice list of Yiddish links.
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is an organization dedicated to studying and preserving the history, society and culture of Ashkenazic Jewry. YIVO is the recognized leader in the study of the Yiddish language. They have a page of the alef-beyz with transliteration and pronunciation guides and an extensive list ofYiddish links.

Essential Yiddish Insults


a page from Yiddish-Hebrew-Latin-German dictionary
A page from Yiddish-Hebrew-Latin-German dictionary. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In the melting pot that is American English, Yiddish has contributed considerably to the alchemy of the language.  And while the oldest Jewish congregation was founded in New York in 1654, Jewish immigration to the United States was small until the 1880s.  After that it was relatively high until choked off by the 1925 restrictions designed to limit ethnically undesirable immigrants.  Jews had already established flourishing communities in the interim, however, and were busy speaking, writing, and publishing in their own melting-pot language, which combined influences from Hebrew, German, and other European languages.  For the past 130 years, Yiddish has given America a rainbow of fun, silly, and just plain useful terms.
A surprisingly large number of English words from Yiddish are devoted to insulting name-calling.  In fact, there are so many insults that I had to break it down into categories and subcategories.  Consider the following:
People Worthy of Your Scorn
Subcategory: Fools
schlub: a stupid, worthless, or unattractive person (from the Yiddish zhlob or zhlub meaning yokel or boor; Merriam-Webster‘s online, hereafter M-W).
schmegeggy: a contemptible person, an idiot (Oxford English Dictionary online, hereafter OED).
shmendrik: a contemptible, foolish, or immature person (the name of a character in an operetta by Yiddish-language playwright Abraham Goldfaden; OED).
schmo: an idiot, a fool (delightfully described in the OED as “a person who stands watching a machine make doughnuts, and [1] cannot understand the process, [2] cannot get up will power to leave”).
schnook: a dupe, a sucker; a simpleton, a dope; a pitiful wretch (OED).
Subcategory: Everyone Else
klutz: a clumsy person (from the Yiddish for “wooden beam,” from Middle High German klozmeaning “lumpy mass”; M-W).
nebbish: a timid, meek, or ineffectual person.  Note that this is a noun, not an adjective (M-W).
pisher: a young, inexperienced, or insignificant person (OED).
schlemiel: an unlucky bungler; a chump (M-W).  See “schlimazel” below.
schlimazel: a consistently unlucky, accident-prone person, a “born loser” (OED).  The classical explanation of this idiomatic idea is that the schlemiel chronically spills the soup, but the schlimazel is the one the soup always seems to get spilled on.
People Who Complain
noodge: a person who persistently complains or nags; a pest, a bore (OED).
kvetch: a habitual complainer (from the Yiddishkvetshn, literally, to squeeze or pinch, from Middle High German quetsche; M-W).  Note that this is more often used as a verb.
People Who Are Interpersonally Annoying
nudnik: a person who is a bore or nuisance (from Polish nudzić, from nuda boredom; M-W).
schmuck: a jerk; literally, penis (M-W).
schnorrer: a beggar, especially one who wheedles others into supplying his wants (M-W).
People Who Infuriate You
ganef or gonif: a thief, a rascal (from the Hebrewgannābh, also meaning thief; M-W)
mamzer: a bastard (both literally and figuratively; OED).  A mamzer is clever at dishonestly turning things to his own advantage.
meshuggener: a foolish or crazy person (M-W).
People Who Infuriate You in a Seriously Non-PC Way
schvartze: a depreciative term for a black man (OED).
shiksa: a derogatory word for a non-Jewish woman (or, in moments of internecine nastiness, Orthodox people also use it for Jewish females who do not follow Jewish precepts).  This comes from the Hebrew word for “blemish” or “abomination” (M-W).
People Doing the Name-Calling (i.e., Gossips)
kibitzer: one who looks on and often offers unwanted advice or comment, or, in general, voices opinions (M-W).
yenta: one that meddles; a blabbermouth, a gossip.  This descends from the first name Yente (M-W).

Essential Yiddish Words

The Yiddish language is a wonderful source of rich expressions, especially terms of endearment (and of course, complaints and insults). This article is a follow up on Ten Yiddish Expressions You Should Know. Jewish scriptwriters introduced many Yiddish words into popular culture, which often changed the original meanings drastically. You might be surprised to learn how much Yiddish you already speak, but also, how many familiar words actually mean something different in real Yiddish.
There is no universally accepted transliteration or spelling; the standard YIVO version is based on the Eastern European Klal Yiddish dialect, while many Yiddish words found in English came from Southern Yiddish dialects. In the 1930s, Yiddish was spoken by more than 10 million people, but by 1945, 75% of them were gone. Today, Yiddish is the language of over 100 newspapers, magazines, radio broadcasts, and websites.
1.    baleboste
A good homemaker, a woman who’s in charge of her home and will make sure you remember it.
2.    bissel
Or bisl – a little bit.
3.    bubbe
Or bobe. It means Grandmother, and bobeshi is the more affectionate form. Bubele is a similarly affectionate word, though it isn’t in Yiddish dictionaries.
4.    bupkes
Not a word for polite company. Bubkes or bobkes may be related to the Polish word for “beans”, but it really means “goat droppings” or “horse droppings.” It’s often used by American Jews for “trivial, worthless, useless, a ridiculously small amount” – less than nothing, so to speak. “After all the work I did, I got bupkes!”
5.    chutzpah
Or khutspe. Nerve, extreme arrogance, brazen presumption. In English,chutzpah often connotes courage or confidence, but among Yiddish speakers, it is not a compliment.
6.    feh!
An expression of disgust or disapproval, representative of the sound of spitting.
7.    glitch
Or glitsh. Literally “slip,” “skate,” or “nosedive,” which was the origin of the common American usage as “a minor problem or error.”
8.    gornisht
More polite than bupkes, and also implies a strong sense of nothing; used in phrases such as “gornisht helfn” (beyond help).
9.    goy
A non-Jew, a Gentile. As in Hebrew, one Gentile is a goy, many Gentiles are goyim, the non-Jewish world in general is “the goyim.” Goyish is the adjective form. Putting mayonnaise on a pastrami sandwich is goyish. Putting mayonnaise on a pastrami sandwich on white bread is even more goyish.
10. kibbitz
In Yiddish, it’s spelled kibets, and it’s related to the Hebrew “kibbutz” or “collective.” But it can also mean verbal joking, which after all is a collective activity. It didn’t originally mean giving unwanted advice about someone else’s game – that’s an American innovation.
11. klutz
Or better yet, klots. Literally means “a block of wood,” so it’s often used for a dense, clumsy or awkward person. See schlemiel.
12. kosher
Something that’s acceptable to Orthodox Jews, especially food. Other Jews may also “eat kosher” on some level but are not required to. Food that Orthodox Jews don’t eat – pork, shellfish, etc. – is called traif. An observant Jew might add, “Both pork and shellfish are doubtlessly very tasty. I simply am restricted from eating it.” In English, when you hear something that seems suspicious or shady, you might say, “That doesn’t sound kosher.”
13. kvetsh
In popular English, kvetch means “complain, whine or fret,” but in Yiddish, kvetsh literally means “to press or squeeze,” like a wrong-sized shoe. Reminds you of certain chronic complainers, doesn’t it? But it’s also used on Yiddish web pages for “click” (Click Here).
14. maven
Pronounced meyven. An expert, often used sarcastically.
15. Mazel Tov
Or mazltof. Literally “good luck,” (well, literally, “good constellation”) but it’s a congratulation for what just happened, not a hopeful wish for what might happen in the future. When someone gets married or has a child or graduates from college, this is what you say to them. It can also be used sarcastically to mean “it’s about time,” as in “It’s about time you finished school and stopped sponging off your parents.”
16. mentsh
An honorable, decent person, an authentic person, a person who helps you when you need help. Can be a man, woman or child.
17. mishegas
Insanity or craziness. A meshugener is a crazy man. If you want to insult someone, you can ask them, ”Does it hurt to be crazy?”
18. mishpocheh
Or mishpokhe or mishpucha. It means “family,” as in “Relax, you’re mishpocheh. I’ll sell it to you at wholesale.”
19. nosh
Or nash. To nibble; a light snack, but you won’t be light if you don’t stop noshing. Can also describe plagarism, though not always in a bad sense; you know, picking up little pieces for yourself.
20. nu
A general word that calls for a reply. It can mean, “So?” “Huh?” “Well?” “What’s up?” or “Hello?”
21. oy vey
Exclamation of dismay, grief, or exasperation. The phrase “oy vey iz mir” means “Oh, woe is me.” “Oy gevalt!” is like oy vey, but expresses fear, shock or amazement. When you realize you’re about to be hit by a car, this expression would be appropriate.
22. plotz
Or plats. Literally, to explode, as in aggravation. “Well, don’t plotz!” is similar to “Don’t have a stroke!” or “Don’t have a cow!” Also used in expressions such as, “Oy, am I tired; I just ran the four-minute mile. I could just plotz.” That is, collapse.
23. shalom
It means “deep peace,” and isn’t that a more meaningful greeting than “Hi, how are ya?”
24. shlep
To drag, traditionally something you don’t really need; to carry unwillingly. When people “shlep around,” they are dragging themselves, perhaps slouchingly. On vacation, when I’m the one who ends up carrying the heavy suitcase I begged my wife to leave at home, I shlep it.
25. shlemiel
A clumsy, inept person, similar to a klutz (also a Yiddish word). The kind of person who always spills his soup.
26. schlock
Cheap, shoddy, or inferior, as in, “I don’t know why I bought this schlocky souvenir.”
27. shlimazel
Someone with constant bad luck. When the shlemiel spills his soup, he probably spills it on the shlimazel. Fans of the TV sitcom “Laverne and Shirley” remember these two words from the Yiddish-American hopscotch chant that opened each show.
28. shmendrik
A jerk, a stupid person, popularized in The Last Unicorn and Welcome Back Kotter.
29. shmaltzy
Excessively sentimental, gushing, flattering, over-the-top, corny. This word describes some of Hollywood’s most famous films. From shmaltz, which means chicken fat or grease.
30. shmooze
Chat, make small talk, converse about nothing in particular. But at Hollywood parties, guests often schmooze with people they want to impress.
31. schmuck
Often used as an insulting word for a self-made fool, but you shouldn’t use it in polite company at all, since it refers to male anatomy.
32. spiel
A long, involved sales pitch, as in, “I had to listen to his whole spiel before I found out what he really wanted.” From the German word forplay.
33. shikse
A non-Jewish woman, all too often used derogatorily. It has the connotation of “young and beautiful,” so referring to a man’s Gentile wife or girlfriend as a shiksa implies that his primary attraction was her good looks. She is possibly blonde. A shagetz or sheygets means a non-Jewish boy, and has the connotation of a someone who is unruly, even violent.
34. shmutz
Or shmuts. Dirt – a little dirt, not serious grime. If a little boy has shmutz on his face, and he likely will, his mother will quickly wipe it off. It can also mean dirty language. It’s not nice to talk shmutz about shmutz. A current derivation, “schmitzig,” means a “thigamabob” or a “doodad,” but has nothing to do with filth.
35. shtick
Something you’re known for doing, an entertainer’s routine, an actor’s bit, stage business; a gimmick often done to draw attention to yourself.
36. tchatchke
Or tshatshke. Knick-knack, little toy, collectible or giftware. It also appears in sentences such as, “My brother divorced his wife for some little tchatchke.” You can figure that one out.
37. tsuris
Or tsores. Serious troubles, not minor annoyances. Plagues of lice, gnats, flies, locusts, hail, death… now, those were tsuris.
38. tuches
Rear end, bottom, backside, buttocks. In proper Yiddish, it’s spelledtuchis or tuches or tokhis, and was the origin of the American slang wordtush.
39. yente
Female busybody or gossip. At one time, high-class parents gave this name to their girls (after all, it has the same root as “gentle”), but it gained the Yiddish meaning of “she-devil”. The matchmaker in “Fiddler on the Roof” was named Yente (and she certainly was a yente though maybe not very high-class), so many people mistakenly think that yente means matchmaker.
40. yiddisher kop
Smart person. Literally means “Jewish head.” I don’t want to know whatgoyisher kop means.
As in Hebrew, the ch or kh in Yiddish is a “voiceless fricative,” with a pronunciation between h and k. If you don’t know how to make that sound, pronounce it like an h. Pronouncing it like a k is goyish.

Links
Yiddish Language and Culture – history of Yiddish, alphabet, literature, theater, music, etc.
Grow A Brain Yiddish Archive – the Beatles in Yiddish, the Yiddish Hillbillies, the Pirates of Penzance in Yiddish, etc.

  1. Sheri Jo on January 15, 2008 5:43 pm
    Fantastic post! I grew up in a town with many, many Jewish people and Yiddish sayings are 2nd nature to me. However, the town I have lived in for the past 15 years has a very small Jewish population in comparison. Consequently, whenever I use a Yiddish term, the response is either hysterical laughter or the “DAHHH… shmendrik” look. Thanks for a great post! :-)
  2. Daniel Scocco on January 15, 2008 6:05 pm
    Interesting indeed, many of these words I had used in the past, without knowing their origin.
  3. la di dah on January 16, 2008 2:05 am
    I love the word schmuck. Great post!
  4. Daniel Quall King on January 16, 2008 12:48 pm
    In Southern American Jewish Yiddish of the 1950s, to kibbitz just meant “to have a good chat”; but often with overtones of gossiping.
  5. Yuri on January 16, 2008 3:32 pm
    What hutzpa, ani roche ledaber lbeail shel atar.
    kan leiot 100 milim ze ata charih ladot.
  6. Izzy on January 16, 2008 3:35 pm
    41: Shtup
    Literaly “to stuff.” Used as a euphemism for sex. “He stopped shtupping his shiksa after she gained weight.”
  7. Jim Walsh on January 16, 2008 3:41 pm
    Shalom Aleichem! Great List! No other language has the expressive power of Yiddish – maybe because it’s a mash-up of several languages. Some other widely used Yiddish words you should consider for future lists (50 words?) include:
    1) Gonif – thief
    2) Shnorren – to beg or mooch
    3) Versteh – understand, get it? – use in place of “capeesh” (from Italian, capire) for a one word interrogative for “Do you understand? ”
    4) Macher – a “hot shot” or “big wig”
    5) Zaftig – buxom or hefty (but in a good way)
    Sei gesund!
    Jim
  8. Daniel Scocco on January 16, 2008 3:45 pm
    Thanks for the additions guys, we might even update the list later to incorporate these.
  9. Marc Savoy on January 16, 2008 3:51 pm
    What yiddish words list is complete without the inclusion of “Shabbos Goy”? term for the local neighborly, gentile whom
    the Orthodox Jewish community knew to rely on in turning
    on electricity, light. fire, other activities they were forbidden
    to do themselves
  10. JewishIn on January 16, 2008 4:03 pm
    Some of these words also cross over to other languages like russian where they mean similar things and are used similarly to english… could yiddish be the hidden world language?
  11. Robert Aitchison on January 16, 2008 4:12 pm
    Yiddish is slang plain and simple, it’s the middle ages version of ebonics.
  12. toneii on January 16, 2008 4:18 pm
    Many of the words are German; here are some I recognize:
    bissel > bisschen (a little)
    mentsh > Mensch (man)
    kop > kopf (head)
    nosh > gnash (snack)
    spiel > Spiel (play)
    gornischt > nichts (nothing)
    schmutz > schmutz (dirt)
  13. Bryan on January 16, 2008 4:37 pm
    Spiel:
    Also means “story” in Irish. Cad e an spiel ? == What’s the story.
    Remarkably similar meanings.
  14. maus on January 16, 2008 4:50 pm
    Schvitzing – Profuse sweating
  15. Al on January 16, 2008 5:15 pm
    Good list! You will find some Yiddush/Hebrew in the Star Trek movies and novels too. In one scene, Kirk uses a Klingon communicator and screams to the transporter operator: “Shmaltz! [beam me up]“
  16. JH on January 16, 2008 5:20 pm
    Great list.
    You can’t leave out nudnik — when the shlemiel spills his soup on the shlimazel, it’s the nudnik who asks what kind of soup it was!
  17. jedrek on January 16, 2008 5:49 pm
    I read #4 and thought ‘huh?’. The polish word for beans is… ‘fasola’.
  18. Karen on January 16, 2008 5:51 pm
    “No Chupah no Shtupa”…not advise I follow, but it’s what so many bubbelahs say!
  19. Okrim Al Qasal on January 16, 2008 7:19 pm
    Oh wow! Jewish people is so cool! I have to learn this words because gringos use them!
    You are useless… I mean, Yiddish.
  20. mike on January 16, 2008 9:16 pm
    May I add k’nocker – which is a big talker, full of hot air, without the ability to back it up; nebbish – an unfortunate nobody who gets picked on; shmatteh – which is a rag or inferior clothing [also the Apparel Business is known as the 'Shmatteh' Trade]; farblondget – hopefully lost or confused. Dreck is also an important word, means inferior product or worse..
    My, my, Mr. Poster of Comment #8, who’s the Racist? if you read your history, you will find that the Jews in Eastern Europe were excluded from many professions, forced to live in Ghettos [the Yiddish Word is Shtetl], and faced severe discrimination and Anti-Semitism. Often the ‘Grubbe Yungem’ [low class coarse individuals] would come into the Shtetl and Beat Up or even Murder a few Jews to feel good about things. Hence the Jews were understandably wary of Gentiles. Shabbes Goy was usually an agreeable neighbor.
    Yes, there is definitely overreaching on the part of some Israelis with their neighbors, but it happens in all races and religions, perhaps except yours, whatever it is, since you are so pristine.
  21. zmarn on January 16, 2008 9:51 pm
    @toneii
    Yes, many words seem familiar.
    gornischt > nichts (nothing)
    I would say its more like:
    gornischt > gar nichts (nothing)
  22. Ed on January 16, 2008 11:39 pm
    Most of these words come from the German language: Schmalz, schleppen, quetschen, Klotz, oweh, mir (accusativ of ich), Mensch etc. So what does that tell you about exclusivity?
  23. Ed on January 16, 2008 11:45 pm
    @nr 11, Jim
    No other language? Do you know any others than English and Jiddish
    Shnorren – German: schnorren, same meaning
    Versteh – German: verstehen, to understand (Verstehst du das?)
    Macher – German: machen, to make; Macher: an accomplisher
    Zaftig – German: saftig, from Saft=juice; ein saftiges Bussgeld – a heavy fine
  24. Christie on January 17, 2008 12:04 am
    What about verklempt? It was made popular during SNL’s Coffee Talk sketch and it seemed that they were using it as “I’m emotional and unable to talk”. Some of my Jewish co-workers said that’s not the real meaning and verklempt was not being used properlyl
  25. iwo on January 17, 2008 12:12 am
    Jiddish is a german language.
    Linguistic says.
  26. Jim Walsh on January 17, 2008 5:42 am
    Hey Mr. Ed, commentator # 32,
    Your comment is worthless – several commented here already about the obvious German cognates with Yiddish. Nothing new – both Yiddish and modern High German stem from the older Middle High German. Yiddish also borrows from Slavic languages (e.g., Polish and Russian), as well as Semitic tongues (e.g., using the Hebrew aphabet). My post just suggested some other Yiddish words – that are used in vernacular English – for possible inclusion on a future list here. Just some constructive commentary on my part. Maybe you should try that, instead of making useless, persnickety comments about other posts. No one is impressed that you can conjugate a few German verbs. Und ja, Ich kenne andere Sprache – zum Beispiel, Italienisch: “Va’ fanculo!!”
  27. Tom Ritchford on January 17, 2008 6:42 am
    “Ok and Marc you forgot to add “hypocritical” before “Orthodox Jewish”, truly observant (of halacha) Jews would not use legal loopholes to try to get around their own rules.”
    I think you are misguided here. The essence of the rules is that they are formal entities — you are required to obey the strict letter of the law, no more — and no less.
    If they bred a pig that chewed its cud, it’d be kosher. Well, probably, see here: http://www.radosh.net/archive/001475.html
  28. Josh on January 17, 2008 11:46 am
    Ah, Yiddish, what a language!
    Combines only the best of German and Hebrew/Aramaic!
    But you forgot the word ‘schvitz/shvitz’ meaning a sauna or to hand around and have a nice long chat.
    Remember, little ‘chats’ for Jews take much longer than for Goyim
    Signed Josh
  29. Michael on January 17, 2008 8:17 pm
    Great conversation, everybody. Maybe we’ll have to make another list. One challenge is to figure out the true origin of words. For example, in 1836, Charles Dickens wrote in Sketches by Boz, “‘Hooroar,’ ejaculates a pot-boy in parenthesis, ‘put the kye-bosk on her, Mary!’” The word kibosh sounds Yiddish, but it also sounds like the Irish “cie bais,” meaning “the cap of death” worn by a judge. Thanks to Elizabeth Mitchell for mentioning that.
  30. Izzy on January 18, 2008 2:36 am
    The “origin” of kibosh reminds me of the story that in Russia, when the Tzar would come into one of the small Jewish towns, the army would be there before him to insist that the townspeople greet the Tzar appropriately.
    The townspeople didn’t know what to do. They all hated the Tzar, and hated all the things he did.
    So, when the Tzar rode through the town, all the townspeople shouted “Hoo Rah, Hoo Rah”
    (NOTE: in Hebrew “Hoo Rah” translates literally into “He is Evil.”)
  31. ..L on January 22, 2008 1:05 am
    Is Yiddish a sister language of Arabic?
  32. ..L on January 22, 2008 1:05 am
    Thanks for sharing, ..interesting to know
  33. Michael on January 22, 2008 2:21 pm
    A sister language to Arabic? That’s an interesting thought. Arabic is a sister language to Hebrew, which is a major source for Yiddish words. German speakers have told us about all the words that German shares with Yiddish. I wonder if Arabic speakers can recognize any of the Yiddish words which came from Hebrew.
    I should point out that Arabic is a colorful language as well, but Jews have been much more involved than Arabs in English-speaking radio, television and film. So fewer Arabic words have entered the English language than Yiddish words. Perhaps as other ethnic groups become more influential in American or British popular culture, their languages will also feed the development of English to a greater extent.
  34. Sami on January 22, 2008 2:12 pm
    Nice post. But what is even more interesting is the huge interest for Yiddish language.
    At e Yiddish we have started offering online Yiddish lessons. We were surprised by the demand. Another proof (if needed) that Yiddish is a living language and studied by youngster also.
  35. red on January 25, 2008 9:18 am
    Cool list!
    Regarding the shlemiel and shlimazel, I learned a slightly different definition. Basically the shlemiel spills the soup on himself, and the shlimazel spills the soup on the person sitting next to him. The nebish (or nebich not sure on the spelling) sits next to the shlimazel…
  36. Michael on January 25, 2008 3:22 pm
    The mazel in shlimazel is also found in mazltof – it means luck. Or in his case, unlucky.
  37. LeonardLennys on February 1, 2008 12:24 pm
    Reply on Christie on January 17th, 2008 12:04:
    “What about verklempt?”
    It’s probably close to the german “verklemmt” which means “uptight”. Someone who’s not comfortable around others or a little unsecure. It can also relate to sexuality. In that case it means prudish.
  38. LeonardLennys on February 1, 2008 12:47 pm
    oops…I meant to write insecure (not unsecure) ;)
  39. BillinDetroit on February 1, 2008 7:56 pm
    #28 … Acts 10:9-15 comes in handy, sometimes. Otherwise, no calamari!
    The thing I, a Caucasian goy, appreciate about sites such as these and the other ethnic / racially oriented sites is that I come away with a better knowledge of the people around me. I have a sort of universal love for humanity … I wish I had time to truly know each and every decent human being I meet. Like Saul / Paul of the Christian Greek scriptures, I am indebted to every well-lived life I have ever learned from. Those aren’t his words, but I think that they do reflect his thinking at 2 Corinthians 7:13-16.
    As one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, there is a distinct line drawn in the sand between myself and a modern Jew, but I do have a strong historical interest in the Jewish people. They are, after all, the kin of Jesus and that is the religion he was raised in and was thoroughly familiar with. Basically we differ in only one important regard … the anointed messiahship of Jesus. We were with you in the Nazi extermination camps with the important distinction that we were free to leave. All we had to do was repudiate Yahweh and walk out of the camp. With only a handful of exceptions, we stayed, choosing martyrdom over betrayal.
    I am leaving behind a link pointing to my blog regarding my beliefs. If you change the URL, dropping the word “beliefs” and adding the word “life”, you’ll find further insight into the world as I see it.
  40. Mark Anthony on February 1, 2008 11:01 pm
    BillinDetroit,
    Assuming a typo, that you aren’t actually a “caucasian goy,” are you a caucasian guy, or a caucasian gay?
    Anyway, I’m not sure what place your religious views have on a glossary of yiddish words. We weren’t really looking for lessons on how each word is to be perceived by various religions. This is more of a culture thing, though a religion is involved, it isn’t really religious so to speak. This isn’t, as you have assumed or mistakenly concluded, an “ethnic / racially oriented site.” It is a writing / language oriented site.
    ~ Mark Anthony
  41. Michael on February 2, 2008 12:02 am
    The top nomination for “favorite Yiddish word that didn’t get included on this list” seems to be:
    nebbish (n) An innocuous, ineffectual, weak, helpless or hapless unfortunate.”
  42. John B. Goy on February 3, 2008 6:28 am
    A nice post, many words which I use. My beef is not giving phonetic pronunciations. If these are 40 words people should know, shouldn’t they know how to say them correctly? Good luck pronouncing tchatchke correctly without help.
    So I’m a nudge (nooj). Sue me.
  43. Michael on February 3, 2008 1:35 pm
    Ah, but since we’re a writing blog, not a reading blog or a speaking blog, may we not be excused for our lack of pronunciation guides? Besides, the Southern Yiddish pronunciation is different from the Eastern European pronunciation. Okay, okay… to hear tchatchke pronounced, give this link a kvetch (audio in ogg format).
  44. daniel levy on February 28, 2008 10:40 pm
    Excellent! but what about ladino, the language of the jews who fledd from Spain to places like Istambul and Thesaloniki?
    It’s a funny language, very funny. Try to develope the issue. Daniel Levy
  45. David on March 19, 2008 9:34 pm
    What about gevaldig (great), draikup (crooked guy)
  46. 31547 on March 20, 2008 11:09 am
    i think it is interesting to know these words. thank you to the poster of them, as well as thank you to all that posted. i have a project at my school on children of the holacaust, and these words have come in handy because we have to pretend we are that child, and write a diary. i hope when people post, they arent doing it just to start stuff. because each person individually helps by adding what they think on this. as with, the caucasian goy, cool, that u thought to use the goy part at the end. :) thanks to all that posted.
  47. Steve on May 23, 2008 10:00 pm
    I like your blog! It disturbs me that anti-semites would seek out such a site just to make caustic comments. I suppose all spoken languages started as some derrivative of another as “slang” if you will. At what point they become a legitimate language I don’t know. It’s true that many widely spoken languages have come and gone and the true roots of many words that we still speak have gone with them. I speak some German and naturally recogonise the commonalities. I think it is important to understand our linguistic heritage as something given to us from many cultures. Thanks, I didn’t realize some of these common expressions were Yiddish!
    shalom
  48. Helga Panton on June 6, 2008 5:25 pm
    Can you tell me where I might find words which are not listed?
    Thanks for any help or advise.
    hhp
  49. Robey on June 12, 2008 3:55 pm
    Great list, all words and expressions I am well familiar with, and being Jewish I love to see Yiddish get the respect and attention it deserves. One minor quibble though. This:
    mishpocheh
    Or mishpokhe or mishpucha. It means “family,” as in “Relax, you’re mishpocheh. I’ll sell it to you at wholesale.”
    Really? Was this necessary? “I’ll sell it to you at wholesale”?! Why bring up the stereotype of the Jewish person haggling over money? It’s such a great word and all it means is “family”. Why bring retail/wholesale into it at all? That just makes me sad. I’m sure it was just an oversight or maybe I’m being overly sensitive but I did notice it. Otherwise, great list.
  50. peter isaac on July 15, 2008 5:13 am
    The word mishpocha for family and the Maori word mokopuna also means family indicating a rabbinical influence in codifying Maori into a written language 150 years ago.
  51. Estelle on July 28, 2008 9:12 pm
    My daughter and her husband insist that my husband used a word that described someone who sponges off another person is called a “kuchanika”. I have never heard that word. Is it a real word or is there another word that sounds similar. I would appreciate any help I can get to solve this dispute.
    Thanks…
  52. Michel on August 7, 2008 2:42 pm
    Yiddish = Jewish….maybe in some cases but not necessarily.
    I grew up in Antwerp, a region known for its Diamaond trade which is largely handle by the jewish community. My dad himself being from Jewish decent married my mom (Of course) a shiksa herself. But though he no longer was considered jewish, he stayed very active in the Jewish community for both business and from a social stand point. many of the Jews in antwerp are Ashkenazi Jews. Ashkenaze being an old term for the Rhineland in Germany. Hence much of the Jiddish spoken there is influenced by german and quite easy for me to understand. Yet when I came to the US and even when I travelled to Israel, the yiddish I heard there, though very resembling the Euro Yiddish, there were distinct differences.
    I believe Yiddish is influenced a lot by the area the jewish people can be traced back to.
    Then again, just an opinion.
    Mazel Tov!
  53. Alex Case on August 25, 2008 2:55 pm
    Nice selection- better than wikipedia!
  54. ruby on August 29, 2008 1:28 am
    yiddish is just german, stolen language. notice the reference to shikse and its connotations?
  55. ruby on August 29, 2008 1:32 am
    yea josh, i bet your little jewish talks take longer than goyim. so typical.
    steal something and claim it as your own, age old trick.
    yiddish is german, and dont insult the germans by claiming
    you invented it.
  56. Renata J. Beaudoin on September 2, 2008 11:38 pm
    I just love the use of yiddish words….the meaning is exactly what the words sounds like…..In though I have gentile origins I have many Jewish friends and a Jewish daughter-in-law and grand daughter. I have a great appreciation and love of words but the Yiddish words are in a category all their own. Thanks. Renata J. Beaudoin.
  57. Chris Chapman on October 11, 2008 12:18 pm
    I thought this was about Yiddish expressions, but instead I see it is a list of Yiddish words. Just like the pronunciation of words depends on the origin of the speaker, so the selection of words reflects the country where they are taken up. Thus American obsessions with hygeine, sex and prurience, and the ignorance and stupidity of others gets promoted. Sorry for pomo rant,
    “No other language has the expressive power of Yiddish” – with imagination like this Jim Walsh should be writing advertising copy.
  58. Alina on October 11, 2008 6:33 pm
    In Russian we also say “FEH” or “FOO” for “ew” and “NU” just to answer any question or to “fill the silence”)
    Thanks for the list!
  59. motormind on October 13, 2008 5:37 am
    I am not familiar with most of these, but I am fairly sure that “shtik” is supposed to be spelled “shtick”, since that is the only word I use regularly.
  60. Daniel Scocco on October 13, 2008 8:56 am
    @Chris Chapman, the title of the article is pretty clear.
    @motormind, you might be right.
  61. AltMichael on October 14, 2008 8:46 pm
    Most (but not all) of these words would be inappropriate to use in English, because they are not established borrowings in the English language. The purpose of language is communication, so if you use foreign words, you will not be understood. (By “foreign words” I do not mean words of foreign origin. The origin of a word is not relevant, only whether it is an English word today.)
    Also, I found that many of them are appropriate only for Jews to use. Being a non-Jew, I would never use the word “goy”. I think it’s silly to try to sound Jewish, unless you really are Jewish.
    To settle the origins questions (Linguistics was my college major), Yiddish is classified as a “High Germanic” language. The only other one being Modern Standard German. It is really a Jewish form of Middle High German. There have been Jewish versions of other languages as well. The reason that Jews had their own versions of a language is because they were segregated for most of European history. Like species, languages tend to diverge when groups of speakers become isolated from each other.
    Finally, Yiddish is the only Germanic language that is not written in the Roman alphabet. It is written in the Hebrew alphabet. Writing systems have nothing to do with the origins or relatedness of languages.
    (BTW, it’s Hebrew that is related to Arabic, not Yiddish. Both are members of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages.)
  62. Michael on October 16, 2008 10:38 am
    I always thought shtik was spelled schtick, in German style, but the mavens at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research have standardized the spelling. Actually, we’re all wrong. The correct spelling is שטיק. So nu.
  63. Kimbo on October 22, 2008 2:35 pm
    I saw some of these and immediately thought of the nadsat language Burgess invented in “A Clockwork Orange” – mentsh, for instance. I had no idea it came from Yiddish!
  64. adam on November 12, 2008 12:22 am
    You forgot the worst and most used of them all:
    schvatza from the german word schvatz or schwartz meaning “black” albeit, it has a derogatory meaning similar to the “N” word. Not to be used at all in my opinion.
    by the way, a schmuck in german mean jeweler and is still used today on storefronts and small jewelry repair shops
  65. zack kushner on December 8, 2008 12:04 am
    Nice list! I studied Yiddish briefly in university and it’s a fascinating language that’s rapidly dying. My bubbe speaks it, but she’s 93. It is mostly cribbed from German, but it also blends in bits of other languages like Russian and Hebrew.
    Pronunciation is key with Yiddish. Saying a Yiddish word the wrong way ruins the effect. Getting the “ch” of “chutzpah” makes the difference! Since some letter combinations used in Yiddish don’t exist in English, it can be tricky. The “tz”, for example; although it can be found in the “zz” of pizza.
    The other key piece to Yiddish is Yiddish curses. There’s a fantastic book full of them I used to have but which has disappeared somewhere. The most well known (I think) is “gay kaken aufen yam” which translates to “go take a sh** in the ocean,” but there are much more colorful ones. I did a search on Amazon for the book, but can’t seem to find it.
    The other one I remember is “May you grow like an onion, with your head in the ground!”
  66. bluespapa on December 8, 2008 1:14 am
    A few more:
    Putz = schmuck
    nebbish, he’s a nebbish, a nothing, no personality.
    Gesundt, as in, a gesundt (or gezundt) on old people. Health, straight from German.
    Schmatte, schmahte, rags, where did you get that schmatte? You couldn’t dress up?
    A tchochka in its diminutive, tchochkale or tchochkele, a plaything, sometimes a gentile you’re playing with but won’t marry.
    drek, literally feces, but garbage you want in any event.
    I think I read in Philip Roth that he grew up thinking the word “aggravation” was Yiddish–and literally I did, too. Helped but not remedied with a seltzer.
    Cronk, sick, a bisl cronk is what you are right before you die in some dialects. He was a bisl cronk, alov ha-shalom. (rest in peace).
    Poylishe, a way some have to talk to certain gentiles.
    Crook, worse than a gonif.
    Eyin harah, the evil eye, straight from the Hebrew.
    Punnim, or poonim, face, usually cute.
    Sheyne, or sheynie, beautiful. A sheynie kop. Beautiful head, but more like cute, a real beauty, a sweetie.
    Kugl, overly romanticized hard noodle casserole, sometimes onions, sometimes sugar, but not my favorite.
    Kishke, a dumpling with meat stuffed in it, and therefore kishkes are testicles. I got to pronounce this at a spelling bee to a sixth grader during a year Scripps-Howard emphasized foreign words in English, and I looked forward to the kid asking me to use it in a sentence. He thought he’d freeze his kishkes off.
  67. Ed O’Leary on December 8, 2008 3:05 am
    A shlemiel is someone who can fall on his back and break his nose.
  68. Shulie on December 23, 2008 7:31 pm
    Actually, “shikse” is derogatory, even more in Yiddish than in English. The meaning of the word is NOT “non-Jewish woman” and it certainly doesn’t mean “beautiful.” It’s an insult.
  69. beth johnstone on December 28, 2008 8:45 am
    my husband loves to say he’s kibbitzing ….only he doesn’t realize it but he’s pronouncing it wrong. it’s KIB butz ….not ke BITZ. the emphasis is on the first syllable. so it’s KIBBIT zing….not Ke BITTZING.
  70. Eric H. Roth on December 30, 2008 5:55 pm
    Great list! The curious might find Leo Rosten’s book “The Joy of Yiddish” worth browsing through.
  71. mary a on January 13, 2009 11:25 pm
    great article, i think that one word in yiddish sums up everything, i am an irish catholic, and i love to speak yiddish.
  72. joy on January 16, 2009 4:13 pm
    I think many Yiddish words are like onomatapoeias (sp?) – or – words that sound like their meanings. It is the picturesque quality of the language that is so appealing to me.
  73. Liz on January 23, 2009 12:12 am
    Can you have pronunciations on all of the words?
  74. teacher on January 26, 2009 3:14 pm
    By the way, kosher is required for all jews, not just observant ones. Though they may be the ones who keep Kosher, that does not mean it is not required for everyone. That is like saying it is only required of upstanding people to drive within the speed limit. It is required for everyone, but only some people actually do it :).
  75. walid on February 10, 2009 3:28 pm
    thank you
  76. Deirdre on February 15, 2009 4:16 pm
    It would really add to the functionality of this site if people (like me) could email articles (like this) to our friends…easily. Any plans?
    Just a thought…
  77. Deborah on February 17, 2009 1:35 am
    I think this is an awesome website, i grew up with Yiddish and Hebrew in my family and i think they are a beautiful language.
  78. helen burdett on February 24, 2009 1:17 am
    how about tserdrait..meaning mad.
    love that word. usually accompanied with a Bissel.
    so discriptive of a neurotic person.
  79. Amy W. on February 25, 2009 11:06 am
    “Nu” is really used to mean “Hurry up” or “What’s taking you so long?” Most people would say the official definition is “What are you waiting for, the Messiah?”
    You left out the one I use the most, “keinohorah”, meaning “without the evil eye”. It is kind of the Jewish equivalent of “knock wood”.
    “Machatunim” should be included because there is no English equivalent. When two people are married, his parents’ machatunim are her parents and vise/versa.
  80. Maris on February 27, 2009 1:53 pm
    SHPEIL, SPEIL
    Now that it’s almost Purim this word is heard every day in the meaning “play” as in performance. The “Purim Speil” is the re-enactment of the story of Queen Esther and her Uncle Mordechai who saved the Jews in ancient Persia under King Achashverosh and the evil Haman.
  81. Maris on February 27, 2009 1:56 pm
    I really enjoyed this. Now I keep the site in my favorates. Thanks.
    Shabbat Shalom from Israel.
  82. Maris on February 27, 2009 2:13 pm
    KISHKEH
    Kishkeh is literally intestine. The kishkeh that some people eat (NOT ME!) is the intestine of a cow stuffed like a sausage but with grains, spices, probably onions fried in schmaltz. The stuffed kishkeh is then cooked in a pot with vegetables and water.
    Lo aleynu, but a lot of people love it.
    Sottish haggis resembles it.
  83. Jenn on March 4, 2009 3:48 am
    @AltMichael – I beg to differ. I grew up in a community with a large Jewish population, and while I am goyische, they became a regular part of my vocabulary. One day I was cleaning house with my German born mother-in-law and told my daughter to clean the schmutz off the floor, and my MIL demanded to know how I knew German words!
    I use schmutz, schmaltz, schtick, tuchus, tchotchke, spiel, chutzpah, and many more on a daily basis without thinking.
  84. Jim Ashley on March 6, 2009 2:04 am
    I grew up in a Toledo ‘burb with a large Jewish population and lived in New York, so Yiddish (and Italian) expressions are part of my vocab. However, when I attempt to acquaint anthropology and cultural geography students with Yiddish words and phrases at the university where I teach, I am greeted with the blank, unknowing stares of the clueless. Here in the Heartland such rich language is practically absent. Perhaps the incessant two-thumb texting that pervades our campuses (what the hell are they saying) serves to narrow the verbal capabilities of the young to a truncated lingo that has turned their expression into a new and sterile teen-speak devoid of the rich meanings of the past. “LOL” etc. – feh!
  85. japanese words on March 18, 2009 11:49 am
    Great list. Most of these I hadn’t heard off and the a few that I did I didn’t really know where they came from
  86. Kathe on April 10, 2009 3:03 am
    Words I’ve known so long I had no idea other people didn’t know them. And I’m a gentile, nonetheless.
  87. Junior on April 10, 2009 7:12 am
    I love Yiddish for the descriptive nature of the words. They are words with meaning and depth. I am not a Jew but I use these words all the time to fill in for the lack of words in the English language to cover these descriptions and emotions.
    Great stuff. Great webpage. Thanks!
  88. Mark R. on April 11, 2009 11:31 am
    If anyone would like to further delve into and profoundly understand alittle about Yiddish Civilization and its influence upon the world and the world’s influence upon the rise and fall of a forgotten nation, Paul Kriwaczek wrote a great book entitled:
    Yiddish Civilization: The Rise & Fall of A Forgotten Nation, A Vintage Book 2005 ISBN10:1-40000-3377-2
  89. Schlomo Epsteinbergfishbein on April 15, 2009 1:00 pm
    Tribalism that has wreaked havoc wherever it went. Do you think that when they decided to despise someone, they picked a “J” out of the hat?
    Another fine example of superstition and tribalism that has plagued the Middle East for centuries.
  90. jenn on April 19, 2009 4:37 pm
    for #3, bubbe (bobe), you noted that bubbele is not in dictionaries – that’s because the -l (-el in transliteration) is a diminutive form. -le is even more so. for example, if a child’s name is chanah (hannah), a grandmother might call her chanele (KHah-nuh-luh) as an affectionate nickname. see also yentl (like the movie, from yenta), or kindl (little child, from kind, not to be confused with the amazon kindle). it won’t be in a dictionary… because it’s a morphological form of another word. that’s all =)
    also, if you’re interested in any books on yiddish, look for anything written by neil jacobs or david neal miller, my yiddish professors from the ohio state university. brilliant gentlemen.
  91. Don on May 20, 2009 8:35 pm
    The third word in your list “bubbe”, (grandmother) is very important, but what about “Zaydeh” (grandfather) which you left out?
  92. PetrosinGirpri on May 21, 2009 5:31 am
    I think 31547 = BillinDetroit.
    Anyways, mazltof is from Hebrew mazal (where the luck part comes from) + t.ov (Hebrew for good). Does it ever have a bad connotation then? One poster seemed to think it does sometimes – but how can one have bad good luck? I ask because I do not know Yiddish, and since words in new linguistic settings can lose part of their meaning or take on a redundant addition.
  93. jenn on May 21, 2009 11:35 pm
    Re: PetrosinGirpri:
    mazel tov is never used to mean something bad, as far as i know.
  94. Miquel on May 31, 2009 3:13 am
    Shikse: Although people try to make is seem nice, there were stickers on guys dorms rooms in college that said “Shikses are for practice”. It’s not nice, and the thing about Yiddish, while often sweet, when viewed in context can often be alarmingly elitist, racist and mean.
    Don’t be fooled.
  95. Miquel on May 31, 2009 3:23 am
    How come “schvartze” isn’t on your list?
  96. Dana on June 23, 2009 1:05 pm
    Great site…
    My husband is “a Goy”, and he loves to learn yiddish words from my childhood.
    One day at the table he announced to my father and my self that he wanted his own ” Knippis Money”.
    After all the giggles died down we explained to him that knippis money is what the wife hides in her bra in case her husband runs away with the blonde down the street.
  97. Hillary on June 29, 2009 7:20 pm
    One of my favorite expressions is Gai kakhen afenyam – Go shit in the ocean. I say it at work a lot.
  98. Dana on July 1, 2009 4:38 pm
    Obviously commenter Miquel needs some help here…While the yiddish word shikses does translate to a female non-jew, I am quite sure there is no yiddish word that translates to that childish and ingnorant phrase found in a male college dorm that he reprinted. Language like anything else in the wrong hands can be made ugly and evil. And to answer why the word schvarzte is not on the list…simply, it means the color black..not interesting..but if you want to give it a mean or racist connotation then go ahead if thats where your brain lives.
    Look around you and see the beauty in the world Miquel..not the ignorant ramblings found in college dorm rooms.
  99. Crystal Hicks on July 3, 2009 1:05 am
    My friend and I are trying to remember the Yiddish word for a “super salesman”. ( You know… the one who can sell ice to Eskimos.) Any help with this?
    Cris
  100. TonyB on July 13, 2009 12:06 am
    My Brooklyn-born father of Irish decent loved Yiddish slang and used it often as I was growing up. One term in particular I remember but can’t seem to find online is (phonetically): sim-itz. It usually came out when something needed to be described as a clusterfu*k, total confusion, an out of control situation. Any help on this would be most appreciated! Thanks in advance…
  101. Don on July 13, 2009 5:36 pm
    Re: Tzimmes
    Literally, it refers to a traditional Jewish side dish composed largely of diced/sliced/mashed carrots.
    Colloquially, the word is used to mean: making a big fuss over a situation, and usually implies that the fuss being made is much greater than is warranted and is referred to as a making “big tzimmes” over a relatively trivial thing.
  102. Jai on July 24, 2009 5:12 pm
    Let’s not overlook:
    One of my favorites: Farshtunken (stinky, smelly)
    Shlufen, as in “The kids are shlufen in the back seat.”
    Pisher (a litle squirt, a nobody)
  103. Matt on August 14, 2009 8:42 am
    What about:
    Pupik – bellybutton
    Purimshpieler -a very amateur entertainer(derogatory)
    Chalish – expire, pass away
    Nachas – pride/happiness over particular event or person
    Nuch besse! – even better! (Sarcastically used)
    Hak meir ein chainik – literally, bang on a tea kettle, used for “nagging” – “quit hakking me already!”
    Shlep – long inconvenient journey
    Keppy or keppelah – head
    Dray – to drone on and on
    Lozzem gemacht – leave ‘em alone
    Shtimmer bebik – a stupid person
    Yachne – an annoying gossip or talker, won’t shutup
    Tatelah or mamelah – little father or mother, affectionate
    Yoiner – a dense person, a clod (often used ina derogetory way for a fat person, a “fat yoiner”)
    Shlong – penis
    Shmekel – penis
    Shtarker – a big bruiser
    Emmis – truth
    Neshtuggidacht – an expression of sympathy
    Rachmunis – pity, sympathy
    Nudnik – stupid, annoying but ultimately harmless fellow
    Kvel – to swell with pride
    Lukshen – noodles
    Shander – a public shame or sin – “a shander fur der goyim” a “shame before the gentiles” a disgrace for the whole “jewish” community
    Bobbemeintze – nonsense, obviously false stories
    A note on pronunciation: many words with an “er” or “ar”when spelled I heard as “ah” growing up, probably bc my family were all new yorkers. So for example “shtarker” was heard as “shtakah”,”schvartzer” was heard as”schvatzah” and “shander” was heard as “shandeh”.
  104. Lisa Y. on August 21, 2009 1:37 am
    So many of these words I grew up with, and use, but didn’t even realize they were Yiddush! This is a great site.
    My grandmother used to sing a song to me when I was very little and draw circles on my belly, singing “Measala Mazala” and then tickle me. Could that be a Yiddish ‘jingle’ her mother did to her when she was a little girl? I saw a posting above that mazal means luck, and seeing it spelled that way, it clicked that this little song she sung could be Yiddish. Thanks for any info!
  105. mnm on September 13, 2009 4:55 pm
    To Bryan who said ‘spiel’ means story in Irish . It doesn’t!!
    Sceal is story in Irish. Cad e an sceal? – What’s the story.
  106. Niall on September 14, 2009 2:51 pm
    Isn’t the the definition of ‘chutzpah’ found in the old joke about the man convicted of murdering both his parents, who pleaded for mercy from the court on the grounds that he was an orphan?
  107. BRB on September 24, 2009 5:51 am
    Question – Where can I find English words translated to Yiddish?
  108. BDR on October 7, 2009 4:29 pm
    One of the best Yiddish sayings ever: “Kush meer in toches!” – meaning “Kiss my A…”
    When growing up I often remember my parents telling each other to “Kush meer in Toches!” Always said in jest however… :-)
    As a South African Jew, I have noticed that sadly yiddish terms are being used less and less in SA. Our family do however always throw in some words when appropriate – a great language!!
  109. Learning Yiddish on October 31, 2009 5:51 am
    So, by way of review, I could say something like:
    A shmaltzy young schmuck of a goy
    was shmoozing a yenta named Gert
    kibbitzing all cutesy and coy
    his shtick was so thick she was hurt.
    “Oh stop with your bupkiss and spiel
    your kvetching’s offensive and gay,
    you’re such a non-kosher shlemiel
    just shtup me and be on your way!”
  110. Alice in wonderstein on November 26, 2009 1:23 am
    Great list.
    By the way u shud add meis kiet n drai mit nir kain kot -which means leave me alone or dont bother me.
  111. SholomB on December 8, 2009 3:03 am
    Until I was about 4 years old, I understood a bissele Yiddish & spoke less, mainly to Boobie [oo as in good, not goof] Sara, or Sonia, my ailing mom’s mom, then living her last months of life with us. Though here forty years by then, she, like many immigrants, preferred her first language with family & friends & to follow the news, sometimes bis radio, or read aloud to her. So, sitting under the table as she & my mom cooked & talked, I was learning more than kitchen/kiddie Yiddish… Then Boobie Sara died, & shockingly took my Yiddish with her, since my mom, rather than continuing to use it with me, her son & only child, held it back, as was also common then, to use as a secret code with adults & talk freely with Yiddish-speaking girlfriends. However, my dad knew much less of it than my mom, having lost his Yiddish-speaking mom when he was only eight to the 1918 “Spanish Flu” which BTW had actually come her from Asia. Anyway, he & my mom soon resorted to whispering, & yelling, in English.
    Thus, for about the last sixty years, Yiddish has remained almost literally my emotive mamaloschen, romantically preserved in my memory a a kind of Platonic mother tongue. Schmaltzy or not, it’s sometimes hard for me to hear or see it without feeling my face start to smile or my eyes tear up. So this site, & especially this discussion, which I’ve just read instead of working on a paper due tomorrow at 1PM, is bittersweet for more than one reason.
    The Nazi war machine didn’t just murder a third of world Jewry, it inadvertently vindicated Zionism’s ardently national-colonial project as it wiped-out the Bund’s competing Yiddishist autonomism, along with the rest of “Ashkanzia’s” wonderful borrowed, demotic, mongrel, exilic culture, including of course, its crown jewel (& sometime schmuck)–sarcastic, secular Yiddish. Still, as a fine & famous goyische US writer, recently deceased, was fond of, & famous for, saying, “There are no unmixed blessings.”
    Amen I guess.
  112. Kellie F. on December 14, 2009 2:37 am
    There should really be info about how to pronounce these words!!
    Glaring, glaring omission!
  113. Rebekah Phillips on January 7, 2010 12:18 am
    I am doing an assignment on Ellis Island I need to know what how much is in Yiddish!!! please help me
  114. Noghar on January 10, 2010 12:07 pm
    Hey, it’s your assignment. Write all of it in Yiddish if you want… though you better check first that your teacher can read it.
    (weird question…)
  115. emanuel on January 18, 2010 2:44 pm
    I like to learn this language I am loving this beautiful language please if your can help me i am emanuel, add me a this facebook please
  116. Jewish chick who knows yiddish and german on January 29, 2010 9:59 pm
    Speaking schwarza, it is NOT a bad word! It only means BLACK. If you know German at all, SCHWARZ = BLACK.
    A schwarza is a black person. PERIOD. It is we American Jews with pcness that attached the N-word connotation to it. It does NOT MEAN that at all.
    SCHWARZA= BLACK PERSON, only.
  117. Dick Hurts on January 30, 2010 6:52 am
    The best part of any Jewish joke book is the glossary. Any Momzer knows that!. Try these on…
    Poopik… Technically a belly button, used in Yiddish to denote something small & insignificant.
    Shikker… Drunkard
    Chozzer… Pig or Glutton
  118. Baruch Atta on February 4, 2010 5:16 pm
    “…So fewer Arabic words have entered…” The only truly Arabic words used in English are
    Bakshish – bribe
    Hashish – hashish
    Assasin – assasin
    oh and
    Algebra
  119. Noghar on February 4, 2010 6:18 pm
    15 seconds Googling reveals 900 commonly used English words that are Arabic in origin, from admiral and albatross, through muslin and mattress, to zero – everyone should know the last one, since Arabic philosophers revolutionised mathematics by inventing the concept.
    It’s a pity that a thread on a lovely language like Yiddish should be hijacked by people wanting to smear and misrepresent other languages…
  120. Baruch Atta on February 4, 2010 7:11 pm
    Dear Noghar
    It is not amazing that you can read my mind? Who is “wanting to smear and misrepresent”?
    Thank you for the update. I really was not aware that there were more Arabic words in English. Perhaps you could write an article on Arabic in English usage for this website. I would like to read it.
    Sincerely
    Baruch
  121. ShalomB on February 4, 2010 9:08 pm
    Noghar,
    Medieval Christiandom, aka Europe, emerging from its “Dark Ages,” learned both algebra & zero from its Arab neighbors & opponents, along with a lots else. However, these technologies had been developed centuries earlier by Hindu mathematicians, who had themselves borrowed some ideas from classical Greece.
  122. Csprrr on February 10, 2010 6:45 pm
    in Amsterdam — Dutch, but hey, we got (among others): ‘mazzel!’ or ‘mazzels!’ meaning (informally) ‘bye!’ or ‘see you!’ though maybe still with connotation of good luck or success, which I like.
    I also like ‘feh!’ a lot, but learnt only now it’s from Yiddish.
  123. xxSay on February 15, 2010 4:38 am
    @Ruby.
    I almost didn’t give you the pleasure of acknowledgement.
    Yet, here I am.
    No one here claimed anything even remotely near the thought that Yiddish isn’t made up of other languages. Infact, many people here told stories about relating these words to other words they knew. If you were paying attention or read the other comments you might have picked up on that.
    But I have a feeling you were here to vent out some pent up frustration, and I honestly don’t think this is the place.
    Also, I noticed that you speak English. Let me tell you a story.
    Once upon a time, the Germanic lands were made of different tribes. Cultures began to spread, as cultures will do, and English started forming just West of these tribes. There were some battles, and the places forming English generally put the losing side of the German language inside the “Commoner’s words” that everyone would use, such as “Hand”. French became the influence on the winning side, in those who gained money for things such as “Antiques” and “Banquets”, French words that became common English. There was also a mix of Latin. The end.
    Maybe you’d want to consider where your own words derive from before you use them to slander another culture, no?
  124. xxSay on February 15, 2010 5:02 am
    Maybe I was a little harsh in the above comment.
    Not on you, Ruby- no, you need harsh words to help understand some ideals obviously not ever placed on you.
    What I want is to make clear that I love the German language. It is what I took in High School and I know more about it than I do Yiddish, which is saying something considering I am not at all German and half my relatives are Jewish. (I came to this site to help with the balance of that…) I went to Germany with meine Mutti for my sweet sixteen, and it was a gorgeous and wondrous land. I don’t think they would appreciate your “help”, however, in trying to award them “the real credit”, considering how hard the German government works to remain neutral.
    “yiddish is german, and dont insult the germans by claiming
    you invented it.”
    I adore your grammar. Proper capitalization and apostrophe placement must not be an important enough concept in your “love so deep for whatever language you are representing” to have shone through your hateful comments on how another form of words is written.
    That is all.
  125. jenn on February 16, 2010 4:35 am
    @ xxSay – i by no means want to make you think that i agree with “ruby” in any way; i actually have a degree in yiddish and can draw you a map on a beverage napkin at a bar to show the 4 dialects of yiddish and how it evolved alongside german. (oddly enough, i’ve done just that… people make strange requests when they find out you have a degree in something they’ve never heard of. especially when drinking!)
    that said, i just had to jump in after your grammar comment… as a former proofreader (yiddish major, remember? ha!) i definitely feel the pain of improper apostrophe use; that said, i don’t feel the same about capitalization, and that actually grew out of my time studying yiddish. writing yiddish (or hebrew, for that matter), there is only one case – and everything works out just fine! i do use capitalization regularly for emphasis, and for some acronyms, and of course in professional writing.
    just thought i’d throw that out there! i’m definitely with you for the rest of your post(s). it bothers me when yiddish is described as “a mix of german and hebrew,” or “german written with the hebrew alphabet” – because neither is true.
  126. ShalomB on February 16, 2010 5:33 am
    Jenn,
    Please say more about your rejection of the characterization of Yiddish being, “German written with the Hebrew alphabet.”
  127. Moishe Pippik on February 16, 2010 5:38 am
    Enough Already!! The responses to the Yiddish Handbook are supposed to be discussions of Yiddish Words, not a forum for neurotics — or should I say meshugenahs — venting their problems
  128. jenn on February 16, 2010 6:10 am
    @ShalomB – you can take an entire class on the topic, but the short version is that yiddish and german evolved alongside one another. german was spoken germany, but yiddish was spoken throughout ashkenaz – from the western boundary which was the same as the westernmost edge of germany, stretching east to russia (belarus, lithuania, rumania, poland, etc.) while western german sounds very close to german (in terms of vowel pronunciation, etc.), eastern german does not – i used to try to compare vocab pronunciation with a german friend, and the closest comparison we could make is someone speaking a southern dialect of american english (e.g. south carolina, or alabama) talking with someone from australia – you have a lot of the same words, but with very, very different vowel pronunciations, and a good deal of different vocabulary because you have loanwords from different languages. don’t let this be misleading, though – while these examples are different dialects of the same language, both german and yiddish are unique languages, each with their own various dialects.
    bottom line, yiddish and german are not the same language – although they are both germanic languages. yiddish was the third most widely spoken germanic language in the world, behind english and german, prior to wwII. they are in the same language family just as hebrew and arabic are both semitic languages – this does not mean they are the same language written with different alphabets. but they evolved alongside one another, in a similar geographic area, and therefore have many similarities. the same can be said for the romance languages, sugh as spanish and italian, which both evolved from latin (amongst others, including french, portuguese, etc.), and do not have entirely separate alphabets, but certainly differing characters/diacritics. i have not studied german extensively, but i do know there are very different rules for constructions in german than there are in yiddish. (yiddish does not have the long compound words you’ll find in german.)
    i’ve already gone on too long, so in an attempt to avoid going into specifics about morphology and other areas i struggle to remember without consulting old textbooks, if you’re interested, i highly recommend anything on the topic by neil jacobs. a good start would be _Yiddish: a linguistic introduction_ By Neil G. Jacobs.
  129. jenn on February 16, 2010 6:12 am
    oh dear, in the first paragraph, “western german” should be “western yiddish,” same for “eastern german” > “eastern yiddish” – sorry, it’s after 1am and i think i’ve stayed awake longer than i should have.
  130. Maeve on February 16, 2010 1:47 pm
    I just got around to reading this fantastic post. It brought back my German granny’s voice.
  131. ShalomB on February 16, 2010 4:11 pm
    Jenn,
    Thanks so much–really appreciate the indicative remarks. If I get a taste for linguistic detail, I’ll check out Jacobs…
  132. xxSay on February 16, 2010 5:16 pm
    @Jenn
    I wasn’t aware that there was only one case in Yiddish. It actually seems like a good idea not to have to worry about capitalization and focus solely on your words. Unfortunately for my brain, I grew up capitalizing English and adding in even more upper-case letters in my German writings, and although it’s a cool idea, I don’t think I could handle it. :) Thanks for the info, however. It’s fun learning things like that and really, this site was made just for the purpose of doing so.
    @Ruby
    Very well Ruby, (what luck for you that I learned something) I won’t reprimand you on that part of your post, but I still feel the need to call you on your attitude.
  133. Baruch Atta on February 16, 2010 7:11 pm
    Jenn
    “…draw you a map on a beverage napkin at a bar to show the 4 dialects of yiddish and how it evolved…”
    It’s one of those things that you knew existed but nobody ever mentioned – the four dialects of Yiddish. I never. But then, I can understand some Yiddish, but not all. Die Gemmora ist Bleib schwere.
    But I am interested – what are the four dialects of Yiddish?
  134. stedgy on February 21, 2010 1:41 am
    did you know that schmackel means willy?
  135. Sandy on March 11, 2010 10:37 pm
    A word I use all the time is Shmei–meaning to shop, but not too seriously. ‘Shmeiing ” is sort of like window shopping, but you might buy something. That word has found its way into the vocabulary of all my friends-Jewish and not. My Hispanic co-worker asked me if I wanted to go shmeiing after work today!
    Sandy
  136. alpna on March 13, 2010 5:53 am
    this is the best book for me but i want to see basic rules of grammer .which did’n i find.
  137. jenn on March 13, 2010 8:55 pm
    @ baruch atta:
    “It’s one of those things that you knew existed but nobody ever mentioned – the four dialects of Yiddish. I never. But then, I can understand some Yiddish, but not all. Die Gemmora ist Bleib schwere.
    “But I am interested – what are the four dialects of Yiddish?”
    the easiest way to explain without the ability to draw a picture is to have you imagine a rectangle – thinking of pre-wwII europe, on the left (west) is germany, on the right (east) is lithuania, romania, poland, russia, etc. the 2 main dialect groups are western and eastern yiddish, divided that way. i’m not as familiar with western yiddish because it is much closer to german in terms of pronunciations (as they evolved side-by-side) and we studied primarily eastern yiddish. i believe there are subdivisions within western yiddish, though, perhaps not as clearly differentiated as those in the east. within eastern yiddish, there are 3 major subdivisions: northeastern yiddish (which we studied, specifically – as spoken in belarus, russia, etc.), southeastern yiddish (more like what was spoken in the areas including romania), and central yiddish (spoken in the areas in between, including poland). along with the different dialects came different customs and cultural differences; this is similar to how in the united states you have american english divided, simply speaking, into 3 dialects* northern, central (or midland), and southern, but within each of those dialects there are sub-dialects (e.g. boston vs. brooklyn vs. minnesota in the north, washington dc vs. pittsburgh/appalachia in the midland dialect, or williamsburg va vs. tennessee vs. texas in the south).
    * NOTE: i used the 3 major geographic dialect groups, and did not include AAVE aka ebonics, for the sake of simplicity – not because i discount AAVE, but because it doesn’t fit perfectly into my analogy of yiddish vs. american english linguistic geography since it’s a different type of dialect group not bound by geographic constraints…
    hope that was helpful and not entirely confusing!
    -j
  138. Big Steve from Houston (by Gawd) Texas on March 18, 2010 11:52 pm
    Weigh two meny mispelings hear. BTW, Yiddish is empirically a language derived from German. There is no argument — even among those who profess to have college degrees on the subject. Sure, other stuff crept in due to emigration, immigration and the tight Jewish community. But just like Pennsylvania Dutch, like duh, it’s German.
  139. jenn on March 19, 2010 2:20 pm
    i DO have a college degree in yiddish. i’m not sure if you made it down to my most recent comment (in response to another commenter), but while yiddish is a germanic language (as are english, and swedish…), it is NOT derived from german. please look into finding books from an actual academic/linguistic perspective, such as _yiddish: a linguistic introduction_ by neil jacobs.
  140. Robin on March 21, 2010 3:41 am
    @ AltMichael – “Finally, Yiddish is the only Germanic language that is not written in the Roman alphabet. It is written in the Hebrew alphabet. Writing systems have nothing to do with the origins or relatedness of languages.”
    The German language belongs to the indo-european language family and uses the Roman alphabet. Persian (farsi) is likewise an indo-european language; however, it uses the Arabic alphabet and in some regions the Cyrillic alphabet. Which does not detract from the main thrust of your argument, although your statement is incorrect.
  141. Azar on April 27, 2010 10:46 am
    Fascinating! Thank you for all the comments here. I was under the impression that Yiddish not only iincluded German, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Russian, but also French – as the servants to the Russian court were Yiddish speaking Jews, and the Russian court spoke exclusively en Francais. Can you elucidate on the veracity of this point?
    Many thanks,
    Azar
  142. rebecca on July 3, 2010 3:59 pm
    It was an interesting list of Jiddisch words and I have only one remake on the last word on your list. Jiddisch Kopf and Goyim kopf and want to remark, as a goy, that meanign of these words work for me the other way around. This sounds only fair I believe.;-)
  143. call me Ishmael on July 5, 2010 3:30 pm
    HOLLYIDDISH
    Some years ago I discovered that Gabby Hayes’ nickname, “Crazy Old Galoot” was derived from/related to Jewish peddlers in the West, living far from their families/synagogues, scratching out a living as the ultimate non-conformists to WASP culture, living in the /galoot/ (diaspora).
    Last night, after sundown, I watched Bogart & Bacall in “The Big Sleep” on our free netflix account. Suddenly I hear Bogie referred to as a Shamus/Shammus and thus recalled countless 30s to 50s movies and tv shows referring to private detectives and even occasionally to police with that term, and then the penny dropped: those guardians of law & order, truth, justice and the American way, were named after the guardian candle on the Menorah, the one that brings light to all the others, and to the guardian/ custodian of a synagogue.
    How many other hidden HollYiddishisms have we missed?
  144. Lars H on July 6, 2010 9:16 am
    Hej
    Great site and a very interesting discussion.
    @ Jenn . You wrote “yiddisch…it is NOT derived from german” and that sounds quite odd to me.
    When small groups of Ashkenazi jews settled in the Rhineland in the Middle Ages, they developed a Germanic language so close to German that anyone with knowledge of German – or any Scandinavian language (I am Swedish) – could grasp the content. I have also seen some yiddisch texts written in latin letters and it seems like the grammar is very close to German.
    If Yiddisch did not derive from German, either the German language derived from Yiddisch (which it did not, since German came to the Rhineland long before Yiddisch), or the two languages have different roots.
    But since the two languages seem to share grammar and most of the words I do not think that you can seriously claim that they have different roots, at least not from a linguistic point of view.
    So as I see it Yiddisch is a germanic language, it has derived from German and it has over the centuries evolved further away from German, both in spelling, pronounciation and by adding new loan words. Or did I miss anything?
  145. Baruch Atta on July 6, 2010 1:07 pm
    “Crazy Old Galoot”
    I can not imagine that galoot is related in Yiddish to “golus” (exile). I thought galoot was Irish.
    “Shamash” is Hebrew for servant. So, the candle in the middle of the menora is the servant for the other eight. The custodian of a synagogue is the servant to the synagogue. Shamash does not have the connotation of a slave/servant, it usually is more like “public servant”, i.e. police officer, mayor, teacher, etc. Therefore, as a metaphore, a PI is a shamash. Sort of.
    I can’t believe that this thread is still going. Enough with Yiddish already! Pick on Irish maybe?
  146. jenn on July 6, 2010 11:40 pm
    @lars – you are right, they are very similar in many ways, but that does not mean one was derived from the other. they evolved alongside one another in a particular geographic area. western yiddish (spoken in areas in and around germany) sounds much closer to german than central or northeastern yiddish (spoken in russia, lithuania, etc.) – same language, different dialects, much like the differences in pronunciation/vocabulary between alabama, and pennsylvania, and minnesota. german, yiddish, english, swedish, etc. are all germanic languages with many similarities in grammar, syntax, morphology, etc. just as hebrew and arabic are both semitic languages, and how italian, portuguese, spanish, and french are all romance languages. much as the romance languages all evolved from a common ancestor (latin), the germanic languages all evolved from an older, pre-german (or proto-german) language. to suggest that yiddish is derived from german is similar to insisting that french and spanish are derived from italian since latin was the language spoken in rome. a more accurate understanding is that these language families are made up of members who evolved alongside one another from a common ancestor, with many similarities in structure as a result of that commonality, however also many differences thanks to the geographic, cultural, and religious separation.
    i know i’ve said it before, but i really must recommend the works of neil jacobs, especially _Yiddish: A Linguistic Introduction_http://www.amazon.com/Yiddish-Linguistic-Introduction-Jacobs-Neil/dp/0521105781/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1278470296&sr=1-3
  147. Lars H on July 7, 2010 4:34 am
    @ Jenn: I’m afraid your our comparison Latin/Pre German doesn’t work, due to timelines. First, yes. At some point in history there was a common Proto Germanic language that later evolved into a number of different languages. But! 1000 years back (give or take a century), when the Jewish settlers came to the Rhineland, the majority population did not speak “Germanic” or “Pre German”. At that point the proto germanic language had since long already evolved into (very simplified) “Anglo-Saxon” (see Beowulf) “Danish Tongue” spoken in Scandinavia (Swedish has derived from this), “Gothic” (East Germanic, extinct today) and “Diutisc” Medieval German (Althochdeutsche) for “the language of people” (as opposed to Latin). So, when a small population, previously not very well known as speakers of any Germanic language, settles in a German speaking area where they become a very small minority, and they start to speak a germanic language, how could that language not be derived from the language of the majority?
    And further on, in the Middle Ages I have understood that Yiddisch was called “taytsh” (טײַטש), compared to “tiutsch” (the name om German had developed).
    This is not about history, culture or ethnicity, my view concerns only the linguistic aspects.
  148. jenn on July 7, 2010 5:50 am
    sounds like you should read the book =)
  149. Annabell_Leigh on July 18, 2010 4:26 pm
    Thanks to Michael for the great post and thanks to all the commenters who provided additional helpful info.
    I’m trying to achieve authenticity in a Jewish character I’m writing. His father came to the U.S. from Poland when he was a little boy, after his grandparents were killed during WWII. My character grew up in New Jersey in a Polish immigrant community with a significant Jewish population.
    I use Yiddish in both his internal and external dialogue.
    Do you prefer to read Yiddish and/or Hebrew words that have apostrophes and other punctuation or the plainly-written words (as you see in Michael’s list above)?
    Does the spelling used, i.e. using the “s” version of a word vs the “z” version, have any significance and does it need to be consistent between different words? By way of example, the word “shikse” in Michael’s list can be written as “shiksa.” Would the character who used the “e” version of this word also need to use the “e” version of other words?
    I appreciate any thoughts you have. I also welcome links to online resources that might help me develop this character authentically.
    Thanks! Anna
  150. Baruch Atta on July 19, 2010 2:45 pm
    In English, you can read a misspelled word and still understand it. In Yiddish, you have to. That said, I would spell the words like this.
    baleboste – balabasta
    bupkes – bubkis
    kvetsh – kvetch
    mishegas – mishugas
    plotz – platz
    mishpocheh – mishpacha
    shlemiel – shlamiel
    shlimazel – shlamazel
    shikse – shiksa
  151. JUNE on August 18, 2010 8:46 pm
    Look, Yiddish is a simple cultural identity. When you’re traveling and you hear someone speak Yiddish (or Hebrew), I’ll bet it registers–whether or not you reply. You can call it slang. You can call it vulgar. You can turn up your nose or down your thumb. But you know what it is, and so do I. When Eastern European Jews were forced to flee (often), what did they take with them? The Torah, their fiddles, and Yiddish.
  152. Barbara on August 25, 2010 1:56 am
    The Jewish side of my family comes from Odesa (Ukraine) and most of the above were used by my family on a daily basis, especially: (most of these will be misspelled, I never saw them written down)
    schmear (a touch of cream cheese or butter on bread or bagels)
    Svelt (curvy woman)
    kinna hera (some us it different but we used it like “she finally met someone/bought a house etc, kinna hera
    OyVey izmere (oh god, poor me)
    putz/schmuck, shmendrick: in other words, idiot
    chuzpa : brass ones! or spunk
    Mashuguna…went a little crazy, yenta: all up in your business
    Mamala: term of endearment towards a mother figure
    Bubula: same thing except this can be said to a man or Bubbee
    schiztke: we used as non jewish female (in Phila it kinda meant a jewish guy who dated but not married a non jewish gal)
    goyum: male non jew (my dad lol, mom was jewish, dad catholic)
    Schwartza: we only referred this for a black individual in a non derogatory manner. It was not a replacement for N
    Philadelphia Jews got along very well with the black community at the time I grew up because we had a lot of holocaust survivors and they felt like they understood discrimination and respected each other. I often saw Jews with numbers on their arms when I was young. Philadelphians just loved Sammy Davis Jr!
  153. Robert Harvey on August 26, 2010 8:01 pm
    This is a great site.
    I had numerous Jewish friends some years ago ’till I moved and lost touch.
    Their conversation was always sprinkled with Yiddish words that had me saying “What’s that mean? What’s that mean?”
    They thought I was meshuggenah.(spelling)
  154. klaxon on August 30, 2010 8:21 am
    Many words seem to originate in the German language, or is it perhaps the other way round? ;)
  155. David G. on August 30, 2010 8:30 pm
    I also would say That Yidish comes from the German that is why you would say Vertashed in Yidish which meens Verdeutshed Take the word Disapointed in Yidish Enteushed which is German and also a lot of words come from Polish Shpilkis in Toches meening Pins up your behind
  156. elzeide on September 19, 2010 5:35 pm
    Perhaps Michael can confirm this.
    Meshigene or meshuga is an Hebrew word that entered German language.
    Perhaps it is not extremely common, but a german will understand meshuga, and that word came from hebrew (crazyness).
    A chilean writer (Dorfman) once wrote against cultural colonization from English to Latin America countries, but many years later he wrote that he was mistaken. Language interaction is a two way road.
    Jatima Tova al kulam !!!
  157. Twist on September 21, 2010 1:00 am
    Yes toneii , Jews know exactly how to refer stuff to them self, like Homos, Jerusalem, their language etc.
  158. Lars on September 21, 2010 9:33 am
    Hej
    What about “mischmasch”?
    It’s a quite common expression in Swedish, and is used to decribe something that is messy, some sort of a mixup, a patchwork, a bad blending.
    I’m not sure whether this is a loan from Yiddich or from German – or both.
  159. Fran Blaye on September 22, 2010 7:03 am
    I’m a shicksa, but have learned a great deal of Yiddish over the years, at least partly because I worked in theater for 10 years. Yiddish is definitely the 2nd language of theater, and the 1st show I stage managed was “Fiddler.” The cast was about 60% Jewish, and my Yiddish vocabulary grew by leaps & bounds.
    But I can never remember how to spell tchotchkes, which is how I found this site.
    Yiddish so incredibly descriptive that it often takes a full paragraph in English to define one Yiddish word. Niall’s post above on the definition of chutzpah is my favorite.
    And the slight, but definite distinctions between words like meshuggineh, mishegoss and meshugge. They all sort of mean crazy, but….
    For any of you who enjoy science fiction, there’s a wonderful book out there that uses a great deal of Yiddish. “Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction.” there are 13 stories, an introduction by Isaac Asimov, and Harlan Ellison added a wonderful glossary of Yiddish words at the end. It was first printed in the 70′s, but sites like abebooks,com may have copies.
    Mazel Tov!
  160. Gene Nielsen on October 21, 2010 4:05 am
    Is there any kind of relationship between Yiddish and Gaelic?
  161. Shaine Maidel(ach) on October 26, 2010 9:13 am
    Fantastic site, wonderful contributors – so many meshugeners! so many mavens! Who knew? Can anyone tell me the origins of something that sounded like “lig eingelecht” meaning “put up with it”? My late mother used to tell a story involving this phrase which always had her creased up in laughter before she got to the end, but I never managed to find out what was so funny about it. And quite a lot of things had that effect on her, so it may remain unknown, and I may just have to lig eingelecht.
  162. Peter on October 27, 2010 7:51 pm
    Is there any kind of relationship between Yiddish and Gaelic?
    Very distant: they’re both Indo-European languages; there’s about 6000 years of language development between them, though.
  163. Schedule on October 30, 2010 12:50 am
    Best you should edit the page subject The Yiddish Handbook: 40 Words You Should Know to something more generic for your webpage you make. I enjoyed the post still.
  164. ShalomB on November 1, 2010 5:43 pm
    I’m afraid it’s even more distant than that–at least according to most philologists & linguists; here’s a typical comment from About.com:
    “Hebrew is not an Indo-European language. It is part of another language group that has been called Hamito-Semitic but is now usually called Afro-Asiatic. The languages of this group include Arabic, Aramaic (the language of Jesus), Phoenician, Akkadian (the language in which ancient cuneiform texts were written), ancient Egyptian, Coptic, Somali, and many more.”
  165. Lars on November 1, 2010 7:40 pm
    @ShalomB. Hebrew is not an Indo-European language, but Yiddisch is. This is true, even if Yiddisch has borrowed many words from Hebrew.
    For obvious reasons we do not know how far back there was a shared Proto Indo-Germanic language (that later evolved into Gaelic, Yiddisch and other languages) , but 6 000 years as Peter suggests is perhaps correct.
  166. Baruch Atta on November 3, 2010 11:17 am
    I was in the doctor’s office reading old copies of Reader’s Digest, and in one, the “Increase Your Word Power” quiz has all YIDDISH words! I guess RD ran out of English words to quiz on, and needed to use Yiddish.
  167. Baruch Atta on November 3, 2010 11:22 am
    Gene Nielsen on October 21, 2010 4:05 am Is there any kind of relationship between Yiddish and Gaelic?
    Yes. It is the same as the relationship between Shlamazel and Shlamiel. See previous posts.
  168. Lars H on November 3, 2010 12:25 pm
    Hej
    I have surfed around a bit looking for Yiddisch texts written in Latin alfabet, but haven’t been very successful. Anyone that could give any online – or offline – suggestions?
  169. elzeide on November 3, 2010 1:52 pm
    to Lars H on November 3, 2010 12:25 pm
    I’m not sure if you will find what you look for but you should visit “Mendele”, that is “the” Yiddish site on internet. I knew they used to have transliterated texts, but actually I never surfed Mendele.
    According to a definition, “Mendele is a moderated mailing list dedicated to the lively exchange of views, information, news and just about anything else related to the Yiddish … ”
    Good luck! Mazeltov !
    For Baruch Atta: what an emotive name you choose ! Congratulations!
  170. Lars H on November 5, 2010 8:43 am
    @ elzeide
    Thank you for the link. I hadn’t seen Mendele before. Most Yiddisch texts are written in Yiddisch letters, but I have found a few transliterated texts, for which I am grateful
  171. Simca on November 5, 2010 9:15 am
    Thanks for posting, we are orthodox and sometimes i don’t know how to explain the yiddish phrases or words to my friends, so i reccomend them to you! Also, some phrases i wasn’t familiar with, which is nice.
    THANKS AGAIN!
    -Simca Le’ah
  172. cindy on November 19, 2010 5:21 pm
    My everyday words huh-yo-who- knew
    21.oy vey
    Exclamation of dismay, grief, or exasperation. The phrase “oy vey iz mir” means “Oh, woe is me.” “Oy gevalt!” is like oy vey, but expresses fear, shock or amazement. When you realize you’re about to be hit by a car, this expression would be appropriate.
    24.shlep
    To drag, traditionally something you don’t really need; to carry unwillingly. When people “shlep around,” they are dragging themselves, perhaps slouchingly. On vacation, when I’m the one who ends up carrying the heavy suitcase I begged my wife to leave at home, I shlep it.
  173. JZ on November 23, 2010 5:53 am
    Language lol
    Lovely language personaly. Would be nice more people command a comprehension of yiddish, and, we all know we command a comprehension :)
    Yet
    There are many more forms of language such as body language, etc…
    I honestly have a deep emotional sense for spoken language yet fear the emotional bond/attachment is borne more out of my fear of the fetlocks/bondages of humans deciding to ground freedom with translation.
    Whenever I read this information I’m reminded of my awareness’ to the strong reality of my life being translated & vice/versa. I changed my name, in part, because my original name reminded me ‘What are you waiting for, the messiah? Hurry up!’ and the name change is my expression of I stopped questioning humans and moved into the next phase.
    Written language to me is a representation of raw creative power studied and then with minmal contamination communicated into visual form ‘I speak/see therefore the program has been executed’. I think this accutely with greek, etc… With the arrival of voice command… a thousand years anyone?
    Helpful to know yes! Explained why here.
    I’m just concerned a little help might be required protecting people with names newbies to a language might suddenly become suspicious of. Hopefully we have more heart to understand this point than the oil we use to.
    And with that my entire experience of yiddish changes again :)
  174. JZ on November 23, 2010 6:14 am
    I know my statement verse slight from the sites purpose (hardly offered any necessary words), I just find my own domination of ‘the game of rock’ – ‘Life’ often bares result by adhereing to others rules. I must command a dominate european heritage through the protocols of europeans choices while living in australia.
    Helps me that much! :)
    (Heres) ” to my french girlfriends :)
    Dominating the competion ‘Translate Life’ is consuming, especial as a very expresive entity.
    I just find conversation with humans in all of this more effective subjected to spanish inquisiton protocol, and there is still way too much already here. Human difficulty I find is borne of humans explaining implied truth for all life and then freed to explore futher in the universes.
    Don’t like what I say… Think I really like the true fact spanish inquistion spirituality works for me… keeps paragraphs effective.
  175. Barry Willig on November 27, 2010 8:56 pm
    Schwarze and Weisse (white) if used interchangeably or to describe accurately one or the other are perfectly fine. Many older Germans and German-Americans recognize Yiddish from their youth. In Germany they were employed as shop terms or street slogans, and in pre-Pearl Harbor America they were well known to German-American youth who were taught how different they were from Jews in the atmosphere of the German-American Bund and Hitler’s radio speeches. As for Third reich-era young Germans who are now among the elderly in the U.S. or back in Germany and Austria, there are also the memories of Nazi propaganda applied to Jews and Yiddish-speaking Jews.
  176. Jane Grodin on December 8, 2010 5:07 pm
    I am a yiddisha maidela and grew up with grandparents who only spoke yiddish. My parents did not want me to have an accent so did notteach me yiddish. I understand many words but would love to speak it. I was the shana maidela of the family (beautiful girl)
  177. Robert on December 10, 2010 8:52 pm
    Your Yiddish isn’t quite right. Please consult with a Jewish authority next time you try a compilation like this.
    1. Speil isn’t from the German anything. The Yiddish and German words share a common root
    2. Kosher is from a Hebrew root meaning “proper.” It has nothing to do with orthodoxy in Judaism.
  178. Lars on December 11, 2010 9:27 pm
    Robert: Speil, or rather Spiel (my guess this is the word you refer to), is by origin a Germanic word well established in German and in the Scandinavian languages.
    But at the time Yiddish was created, this word had by far left the Proto Germanic era and was then a German, not a Germanic, word.
    Therefore I would say that Yiddish and German words does not share a common root, but Yiddish has borrowed the word from German.
    Regardless of anything, one must accept the fact that when Yiddish was created, the German language, as one of several versions of the Germanic language group, was already existing and separated from other Germanic languages. So there should be quite few words where Yiddish and German share the same root. If you think that is the case with “Spiel” please present facts to support that opinion.
  179. elzeide on December 11, 2010 11:33 pm
    As Robert correctly pointed out (Dec,10 2010) the explanation about kosher on the original post of this site must be corrected.
    Kosher means what is proper, and is used on the jewish dietary laws to separate what the jewish people can eat and what is forbidden to us. Despite of what is written on the initial explanation of Kosher, those laws are mandatory for all jews. For many reasons many jews don’t follow “kashrut” but the law exist.
    This custom, of ignoring the law, unfortunately repeats with other parts of the law, like working on Shabbat or during the Jaguim (high hollidays).
    Note: I’m not a “100% kosher” jew (sorry), neither I am a chacham, so surely you will find a much better explanation than mine in the future.
  180. Ellen on December 17, 2010 6:07 pm
    Thank you all so much for this site. I have it bookmarked now and will check in now and again to see what’s new.
    Thanks also to the poster who put up the link to Yiddish Language Lessons. I definitely intend to try it out.
    Yiddish along with Basque are languages that are very difficult to learn because so few courses are available and also they are very region specific dialects and difficult for beginners to get a handle on.
    Anyway thanks again. I have really enjoyed my time here.
  181. elzeide on December 25, 2010 9:10 pm
    To Ellen on December 17, 2010 6:07 pm and To Jane Grodin on December 8
    If you want to learn Yiddish, you should visit the website of the YIVO (or IWO). As they said in their webpage “YIVO continues to serve as the “world headquarters” of the Yiddish language.”. And besides IWO’s own classes, they surely know about classes at universities or other centers.
    Indeed it’s a difficult task for begginers, so Good Luck !!!
    I really love this “Yiddish Handbook” page, as it allows an easy and productive communication between Yiddish lovers.
  182. Ruchie on January 5, 2011 12:00 pm
    tchatchke – not to be confused with tsatske – Yiddish for bimbo…
    You might say: I picked up a few tchatchkes on my trip to Niagra Falls. Quite different from: I picked up a few tsatskes on my trip…
  183. YakDriver on January 8, 2011 4:05 pm
    I loved the post. I find it interesting, though, that so many people use the comments as a forum for written combat.
    It feels rather like the Alamo with people drawing “lines in the sand.” Accept that this was an attempt to share some cultural diversity and not an attempt to establish any racial superiority. I, for one, was pleased to read information that explained many of the Yiddish phrases that I’ve heard from Jewish friends. For that I offer my thanks.
    As for those who are so combative, give it a rest. I’m sure that your opinion MUST be correct because it is your opinion, but keep it to yourself. That way you can be secretly superior to the rest of us. It’s much more gratifying to know secrety you are superior than to expose yourself to the chance that others might not believe it.
  184. YMedad on January 9, 2011 3:53 am
    Well, if you have tuches, you should have tsitskes (sing. tsitskeh), boobs, which should not be confused with tzitzes, which is a term for the small, under-the-shirt tallit Orthodox Jews wear, also called arba kanfos in Yiddish. Nor confuse it with tzaddik, who is someone who doesn’t quite know about tsitskes.
  185. Baruch Atta on January 11, 2011 1:39 pm
    YakDriver : concerning your post on Jan 8: Is that your opinion? Or is it a FACT?
  186. Elisabeth Moses on January 15, 2011 9:31 am
    I’m interested in learning ho w to speak Yiddish. What would you suggest?
  187. Tsada Kay on January 17, 2011 7:54 pm
    Required reading for all smart-asses! Great list. Thanks!
  188. Don Woods on January 22, 2011 2:19 am
    Yiddish: Mentsh
    An honorable, decent person, an authentic person, a person who helps you when you need help. Can be a man, woman or child.
    Mensch in German means human.
    Yiddish: Mishegas
    Insanity or craziness. A meshugener is a crazy man. If you want to insult someone, you can ask them, ”Does it hurt to be crazy?”
    Mischgas in German is often referred to laughing gas.
    There are way too many to add.
  189. Jay Lewis on January 25, 2011 4:11 pm
    I enjoyed reading the 40 yiddish words as well as the posts. . I understood there were two versions of Yiddish, the Spanish version and the German version. The German version was used by Jews during WWII because they were prohibted from using Hebrew. This version is universally used today. The Germans obviously accepted Yiddish as German, and never became the wiser. Yiddish in Isreal ism’t used like it is in Europe and the United States, and if it is, it is totally different.
    One good book you might want to read is “The Joys Of Yinglish” by Leo Rosten, and is 584 pages. I think it is available from Amazon.
    “Drop Dead” is a yiddish word, which means go to hell. The Jew who converted to Catholicism and became a priest, opened his sermon with “My fellow Goyim”.
    Shalom
  190. Joster on January 31, 2011 9:05 pm
    Hello. Is there a standardized spelling of Yiddish in Latin characters? I understand that properly written Yiddish is written in Hebrew characters. Obviously, there would be a lot of regional variation in a language spoken in such a wide area in Europe. Also, is there a geographical birthplace for Yiddish? I would suppose it would be somewhere in modern Germany?
    As for the many comments as to whether Yiddish is a Germanic language, or is derived from German is sort of a non-issue. Hochdeutsch was not standardized until the Nineteenth Century. The German language is still going evolving to this day. Prior to the political organization of Germany in the late Nineteenth century there was (and continues to be) a great deal of dialectical variation. The fact that Yiddish is written in Hebrew characters and incorporates loan words from Hebrew, Slavic languages, Romance languages, and others makes it more divergent from many other German dialects. At what point a spoken idiom is considered a language and not a dialect is largely abstract, political, and subjective.
    If Yiddish is rightfully a separate language (as I would consider it), it has just diverged from the Germanic “family tree” more recently than other Germanic languages such as English or Danish.
    In any case, I love Yiddish and love using many of the expressions and words found above. Thanks for a lively discussion!
  191. Ogmios on February 5, 2011 2:27 am
    Self patronizing at the least.
    Yiddish is with no doubt an allegory of many languages however it is not an invention per se.
    It is the native tongue of the Khazar tribes that became the Ashkenazi.
    I can easily say “Good day” the implied sentiment is just that, to have a good day – Why say Shalom when I can say “Good day”.
  192. Vic on February 7, 2011 7:24 pm
    It’s curious how there can be no discussion of anything related to being Jewish without racist comments creeping in. What a shame.
    What began as an exploration of language ends up being a commentary for racist attitudes.
    Yiddish words come from a culture, not merely a language derived from other languages. Until WWIi there was a Yiddish culture. It was rich and thrived under circumstances less than ideal. Certainly, there are words of German origin (as well as Russian, Polish, Hebrew, and even English), but Yiddish words are colored by Yiddish culture.
    Is this threatening? It shouldn’t be.
  193. Kate on February 10, 2011 2:57 am
    Can someone please explain the meaning of the word “sprinza” and I am definitely misspelling it. I’m guessing it is along the lines of Shickza but would appreciate knowing the real meaning of the word. I’m not even sure if it is Yiddish. However – any help is appreciated! Thank you in advance.
  194. Ogmios on February 10, 2011 3:35 am
    Vic – The sad part about your comment is that it is you that introduce the thought of racism.
    Q. Are Jews a race? NO they are not – When did you lose your semitic connection/s – NB Jews are not Semitic in the main they are Turkic Finn aka White Fellas.
    Once again Yid is the native tonue of your Khazar fore fathers -FACT.
    So is there a Catholic race – NO.
    I have noticed that when a Jew feels threatened that racism and crazy come to pass.
    I wish the Torah followers all the best – As for Mishna we are all Goy.
    Now if separatism is not in fact racism what is?
  195. Crystal Hicks on February 10, 2011 8:50 pm
    I still haven’t gotten any information on the Yiddish word for “super salesman”. You know…the guy who could sell ice to Eskimos!! lol
    Cris
  196. mo on February 12, 2011 8:47 am
    One of the posters above mentioned that English hadn’t borrowed many words from Arabic–this is only half true. English has borrowed considerably from Spanish, though, which was occupied by the Arabs for some centuries and so we’ve gotten some words by proxy there, not dissimilar to picking up a bit of German by way of Yiddish.
    Algorithm, alchemy, alcohol, coffee, cotton, checkmate, elixir, hazard, mattress…
    It’s more that, like ‘maven’ and ‘klutz,’ they’ve been with us so long that we forget they’re borrowed.
  197. mo on February 12, 2011 8:48 am
    (Gah. Please forgive the typos. It’s not even 6am here.)
  198. Frisco Plumber on February 21, 2011 4:31 pm
    Great information. I got lucky and found your site from a random Google search. Fortunately for me, this topic just happens to be something that I’ve been trying to find more info on for research purposes. Keep up the great work and thanks a lot.
  199. Loretta on February 22, 2011 10:59 pm
    When I became an Orthodox Christian, I was puzzled by one word I came across in my new parish: GOYA. I knew it wasn’t Greek because I had some reading knowledge of that language. It sounded Hebrew or Yiddish, but the ending was unfamiliar. I thought it might be Spanish; we have Spanish-speaking parishioners, and we Floridians eat the well known GOYA brand of black beans and other Spanish foods. It took a while before I found out that the GOYA our bulletin notices referred to meant neither Gentiles nor black beans, but the parish chapter of Greek Orthodox Youth in America.
  200. Tony on February 25, 2011 8:26 am
    There are some Yiddish expressions that I remeber my parent using.
    One sounds like Tsei mish ca nar. I think it was part of a joke told by a jewish comedian. The last word is obviously the word for ‘fool’. The joke was about a speak your weight and fortune machine in a railway station. This man spent so long on the machine listening to the weight and fortune, because the machine was really accurate, knew all about him and kept asking for more money to finish off the fortune reading.
    Finally the machine says to him something like, your name is Eddy Goldstein, you live in Golders Green, your wife’s name is Sadie and <<>>, you’ve missed your train.
    Somebody tell me what it means, after all these years.
  201. ALEX MORRISON on March 23, 2011 5:55 pm
    I was born on the Isle of Skye 1938 and my first language was Gaelic. The people were very Pro Jewish probably because of the Old Testement,Icame to Glasgow at 17 and worked in a variety of jobs.I was bit down on my luck and living in a downmarket hostel when i got a job with a Jewish coalman in the old Glasgow Gorbals which had a big Jewish population.If it was a cash sale Abie would say gelt an fantesh.ITwas mostly the goyim who got credit although some Jews had accounts.They would take me to Geneens for salt beef and cabbage and i was happy although the work was very very hard.I still have a lot of Jewish pals and dear Micheal S ankey and I get shickered now and then He is a Holocost survivor and he is happy in this messugene velt.Mazel to all the Jews in the world and Israel. A L
  202. IsraDane on March 25, 2011 4:23 pm
    Regarding the English translation of ‘Kosher’, a better translation than ‘proper’, would actually be ‘fit’.
    Kosher food is ‘fit to eat’, and in Hebrew Cheder Kosher is a fitness centre, and a sportsman can be kashur (same root) for the next game, (fit to play, as in ‘not injured’).
    And for all the obsessive Jew haters here, who appear to prowl the net for any place where they can vent their hatred – go get something inserted up your tuches.
  203. alex morrison on March 28, 2011 7:13 am
    A jew got converted to Christianity and became a minister he used to address his congregation as “my fellow goyim”
  204. Papa97 on April 1, 2011 5:26 am
    A real treat and so informative. I suspect like many who gravitate to this site I’m sure we all agree on how important language is. Many of us finding it’s root’s fascinating.
    In all the time I was enjoying the comments I could not shake a comment by Mike *19…… I’m not normally given to political outburst but my cage was rattled…
    ……’Yes, there is definitely overreaching by some Iraeli’s on the part of their neighbours’…..
    Is that what they call the blatant genocide of an ancient people these days where you come from Mike.. ‘overreaching’…..
    Will someone explain where this whole anti-semitic thing comes from since 85%+ of modern day Jewry are descendants of Khazars (7th Century Khazar king went eeny meeny mynee mo….Islam Christianity or Judaism……) with not a single drop of semitic blood in them. Oh.. by the way, the same lie’s that is the basis of the pretext of stealing Palestine.
    Here’s a couple of good words ‘spine’ and ‘accuracy’… So.. let’s ‘av it right shall we …
  205. David Quin on April 1, 2011 8:58 am
    Fascinating list. I think these Yiddish terms have great energy and resonance for English speakers because they are ‘cousins’ of those English words that are derived from Anglo-Saxon.
    English is basically two languages joined together: Anglo-Saxon and French (and most English words come from French/Latin). The French and Latin terms are more abstract and generally those of an overclass (the Norman and French rulers of England). The Anglo-Saxon words are, in general, more earthy, emotional, onomatopoeic, and usually punchily monosyllabic: squelch, slug, stink (compare ‘odour’ from the French!) and so on.
    The Yiddish terms mainly seem to come from the same ancient word hoard, and thus they sound meaningful to us even when we don’t know their exact meaning.
    Add to that an injection of Jewish wit and humour, and you’ve got some gems!
  206. IsraDane on April 2, 2011 8:44 am
    Papa97, can’t you just go hate somewhere else, Adolf? Why come to Jewish places to start with?
    And what ancient people? And what genocide? Had we been genocidal towards the Palestinians (a term invented in the 1950′s) it would have taken us about a week to finish.
  207. TLM on April 2, 2011 11:33 am
    Grew up hearing Yiddish spoken by parents & grandparents, and the only word I never heard was your #1 on the list. I’m afraid I never heard “yiddishe kop” but recall hearing “goyishe kop” more than a few times to mean “idiot.”
  208. Papa97 on April 3, 2011 2:30 pm
    Isra Firstly I didn’t realize it was ‘Jewish site’ and secondly I don’t hate anyone I was simply stating what I understand are facts. I’m sorry if you were offended. I have no beef with Jews, just the criminal Imperialist Zionist that have hijacked Judaism…..I have read ‘The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion’ and am under no illusions (as perhaps you may be considering simply mentioning a couple of facts get’s me called Adolf) about certain peoples intentions.
    Give it a name. My Arabic is scratchy but I’m know they had a name for the land. I’m talking about the people who have lived there for thousands of years not the racist dopplegangers that stole it.
    Your last sentence was very revealing. No… the world wouldn’t stand for you ‘to finish’… so you play the slow game as you always have. Pls… I’ve been to Israel… save it for the dumb Goy…
    I deeply apologize to anyone upset by my comments.
  209. jenn on April 3, 2011 2:36 pm
    anyone who comes to a site that is discussing yiddish and starts talking about israeli politics is obviously ignorant to what yiddish is. please take your arguments elsewhere – this is far from the place. unless you’re discussing shtetl politics in ashkenaz, that is. your hatred, bigotry, and ignorance have no place here.
  210. elzeide on April 3, 2011 4:06 pm
    to the urgent attention of the list moderators. This Pap97 is doing a lot of evil. First is telling plenty of lies. Consider that he pretends to know because he read “The Protocols”.
    Second he introduced a lot of hate in this basically “peacefull” list, and including comments that are completely off subject, that is “yidish”.
    Third, regarding the supposed sentence of the ex Tel Aviv mayor, I completely believe it’s a complete antisemite lie, exactly the same as infamous “The Protocols”. Also I couldn’t find references to it in internet.
    And finally he shouts so loud his incredibly hate, I’m sure he’s sick (of hate) and he should be expulsed from the site.
  211. ALEX MORRISON on April 3, 2011 6:24 pm
    When I first came to the big city 57 years ago and worked with Jews and amongst Jews I was not aware of any anti semitism. The Jews did there own thing worked hard and minded there own business.Today it is a different story with the Asians and I do not mean the Hindus or the Sikhs but the Muslims who take the slightest thing as an affront to Islam.In one of Glasgows oldest Catholic school which has a large Pakastani attendance they objected to to a statue of the virgin mary in the foyer as an insult to Allah It beggers belief.Britain is now sending millions of pounds to Pakistan in aid where the only christian member of parliment was assasinated.The mullahs are allowed to preach hate and promote terrorism burn our national flag in the street.Iam sure there are many decent peace loving muslims but a stand must be taken against the vermin radicals.If they do not like it here go back to Afganistan,Libyia or whatever uncivilised backward hellhole they want to where they wont get hard working taxpayers keeping them in benifits.Iam so angry at people like that sleazy lowlife scumbag MP toches lecher George Galloway who targets the Muslim vote by cosying up to the likes of Ghadaffi and the unlamented Saddam Hussein.may he burn in hell.I am not a racist but I am sick of it all and wonder what is going to become of our civilisation.
  212. elzeide on April 3, 2011 9:54 pm
    As you clearly affirm (even before my first word) taht I will loose, is clearly a demonstration of your health.
    Just the fact that you mention “The Protocols” as a valid source after one hundred years that only people who hate jews believe on it, but not normal people, relieves me of trying to answer you.
    Then you make a difference between “rank and file Jews” and “criminal Zionists”. This is enough, and you don’t deserve any answer.
    Many jews were assasinated or died on fire trying to show the truth to people like you, during 500 years of Spanish Inquisition and before. Millions died at the hands of people following your type of thinking during the German nazi regime, in the Russian and Poland pogroms, the jews murdered by the Cruzaders, and also the jews murdered by the muslims. And countless more.
    However as you believe you are the owner of the truth.
    So I beg to you to take off your lenses and go learn the real story.
    And I insist to the list moderators, to forbid you from accessing this thematic list.
  213. elzeide on April 3, 2011 9:59 pm
    Papa97, while I was writing my comment, you vomited a lot more hate. I guess on my first answer to you. You’re full of hate.
    Look for medical advice, before going learn history.
    May be this will help you.
    And you insist that I go and read The Protocols. Are you insane or what???
  214. Lars H on April 4, 2011 3:14 am
    Papa97. I don’t know about other countries, but very few Swedes would ever embarrass themselves by claiming that “The Protocols” in any way was a factual document.
    Like you, I have read it and it should be obvious to anyone that “The Protocols” is a product of someones imagination.
    And I might add since it is not written in Yiddish, it is a bit off topic :)
  215. Papa97 on April 5, 2011 11:24 pm
    Anyone noticed not one person has said a word about the disgraceful comments of Israeli leaders… that should set alarm bells off with any sane person…. but no.. not one……Your arrogance is stunning and you have the effrontery to accuse ME of hate…… oh dear oh dear…. Same M.O… every single time…. attack the messenger….. By the way I’m a Prof of History and Comparative Studies for over thirty years and my information is gathered from a lifetime of academic study…. not the idiot box….Oops… Time will tell….
  216. jenn on April 5, 2011 11:35 pm
    for someone who claims to be educated, you are extremely ignorant regarding yiddish. if you didn’t notice, this is a page about yiddish. not israel. not middle eastern politics. yiddish, the language and culture of jews in ashkenaz, an area which encompassed most of europe, stretching west to germany (austria, hungary) and east to belarus, romania, etc. during an extended time period pre-world war I.
    this is not the appropriate outlet for your ranting. please excuse yourself – as an educated person, one would think you would be able to find a more suitable venue.
  217. josh on April 6, 2011 3:30 am
    i think its a really good website
  218. Papa97 on April 6, 2011 10:50 pm
    Yes… hands down.. your right, this is not the appropriate place but as I said earlier someone rattled my cage. Education has nothing to do with it. I am human with humane feelings and being called Adolf for stating a simple fact just got my goat. I keep coming back here out of optimism I guess just hoping someone might say ‘Aw shucks.. maybe your right about Sharrons comment about rape etc …. but can you shut up so we can get on with the Yiddish…’ I would have some respect for that and I would have done just that… But no…. the muck just keeps on getting brushed under the carpet… and frankly I’m sick to my stomach with it.
    Seriously though.. don’t you get it. It’s only human to vent through frustration. I didn’t stop to think where I was. When one see’s image’s of screaming children scared to death after their father has been shot in front of them preceding their house being bulldozed flat…or to once again sit and listen to Mark Regev and his sickening lies when we know Mossad had seven specific targets for execution on the recent aid floatila……. it kind of sticks in the craw…. get it ?
    But you should know…. the parties over… People ARE waking up so I should expect some more ‘inappropriate’ (ahhemm) responses… Adios amigos..
  219. Papa97 on April 8, 2011 7:55 pm
    It took a while for the penny to drop.
    You were ALL right. What I said was inappropriate and my words here are not going to be sufficient to communicate how infantile I feel I’ve been. Not very smart was I ?
    I”m sure there’s a whole series of Yiddish words that say it well, as only Yiddish can. Feel free !!!
    I am sorry if I hurt anyone’s feelings which I know I have and I ask your forgiveness.
    It won’t happen again.
    With your permission I’ll excuse myself from the site.
  220. sima on April 21, 2011 11:25 pm
    my grandmother tought me when my mother yelled at me Farmakhen de pisk, lozen shtil- close your mouse , be quite
  221. wildasthewind on May 1, 2011 6:34 pm
    RUBY…. If what you say is true, that yiddish is German and it was stolen from them, Then wouldnt yiddish be german, and then why speak yiddish, if its german. just speak german….
    It is not a stolen language from the germans… it is a mix of german ,polish, russian… and is uniqully jewish….. one of the only languages most jews can speak to one another with, and be understood… unless they speak hebrew… not all speak hebrew… yiddish is almost universal…….
  222. Jack on May 11, 2011 3:34 pm
    I’ve just spent an enjoyable hour reading this thread from start to finish. I’ll ignore the silly politics and get back to how this started, just with some love of the language.
    One addition, that surprisingly hasn’t been mentioned so far, is “Lansman,” as in a greeting to a fellow speaker of the language, or countryman.
    One modification I’ll offer is for my very favorite Yiddish word, “kvell.” One reader said it meant swell with pride, which, to my knowledge, is true as far as it goes, but, the extra kick that makes it a favorite is my understanding that it is almost always used to mean to swell with pride at the accomplishments of your child — a lovely and unique Yiddish word indeed.
    One disagreement is with the contributer who felt that “svelt” was a Yiddish word. I checked a dictionary and believe it is French. But perhaps the contributer had an experience similar to my mine, where the word was always used by a Yiddish parent and therefore sounded Yiddish. My similar experience was with the word “tumult’” which I was thoroughly convinced for year was Yiddish since my parents would always talk about some big tumult going on, putting their inflection on the word (which I incidentally never heard used by someone who was not Jewish). Thus a question for the many linguists out there: Is there a name for this psychological phenomenon?
    Thank you for this lovely site.
  223. Jim Lacey on May 15, 2011 2:29 pm
    Alas, the quintessential New York accent (think Archie Bunker) my father spoke is fast disappearing. Every New York neighborhood usta have a kosher deli–even the part of Bay Ridge I grew up in which was 90% Irish and 10% Norwegian. At least fifty Yiddish expressions was the inheritance of all native New Yorkers. I’ll add a favorite of my own “zoftig,” usually referring to a well-endowed woman, literally juicy, I believe. In German apple juice is Apfelsaft and saftig means juicy. Many native New Yorkers still speak with an unconscious Yiddish lilt.
  224. Anne on May 15, 2011 3:31 pm
    Although “Bubele” seems derived from bubbe, it is usually use in referenced to females younger than the speaker. It’s source is the Hebrew word Boobah which means doll.
  225. Jan on May 15, 2011 3:57 pm
    I was born in the Rhineland and remember well how my grandparents’ speech was peppered with words that appear in the list that started this post. Schlamassel (current German German spelling) is used to the present day, but not to refer to a person, but to an unfortunate situation, like when a new soccer coach is hired to pull a team out of the Schlamassel it’s in. Any comment?
    On another note: My grandmother used the word Stiewel (pronounced ‘steevel’) to refer to a state of disorder, like the mess in a room that had to be cleared up. It always sounded Yiddish to me, but I have not found it in any compilation. Again, any comment?
  226. Jan on May 15, 2011 4:05 pm
    Correction: Stiewel is pronounced “shteevel”.
    Has anyone mentioned “tacheles”? Used to the present day in Germany, as is in “I have to talk tacheles with him”–meaning “I have to read him the riot act”.
  227. pigeonca on May 15, 2011 5:16 pm
    Interestingly, I have always heard Yiddish words that end in “a” elsewhere ending in “ie” where I grew up: mezzuzie instead of mezzuzah, schmattie instead of schmatta, etc. Having moved to Los Angeles from Chicago, I recently learned that these “ie” endings are native to Chicago, which I find really fascinating. Here is a European language with a Chicago variant. Pretty cool, huh?
  228. barbara harshav on May 15, 2011 7:48 pm
    in modern hebrew slang, “shvitz” means to brag; a “shivitzer” is an arrogant braggart.
  229. Karen on May 15, 2011 11:34 pm
    My dad used to use kibbitz to describe sitting and watching someone else play pinochle. He also used it to describe someone’s way of sitting at your dinner table uninvited and commenting on the food. It was not a compliment.
  230. Naftali Arik on May 17, 2011 4:28 pm
    This article has it wrong about treif, which means “torn” and refers to meat that is not properly slaughtered by is killed by “tearing.” Shrimp are not treif, because they could never be kosher. But a cow that has been run over by a truck is treif.
  231. LittleBird on May 25, 2011 9:23 am
    In my family (or maybe this is specific to London…I don’t know), we predominantly use schlock to mean “messy” or “an untidy person”. Anyone else know anything about this?
  232. Will on May 26, 2011 2:39 pm
    I checked into this site because I am trying to recall the word that I used to hear growing up in NY which referred to any one of the following categories (generally applied to a man, I never heard it applied to a woman): a strict boss, someone hot-tempered, a “prick”, if you will. Not that I plan on using it, mind you! Any ideas?
    Fascinating dialogue, despite some of the irrelevent and attention-grabbing hate speech. Ruby, your comment re stealing language was shameful and totally incorrect. Listen to Jenn already, she’s the voice of reason.
  233. Bibby on May 26, 2011 10:21 pm
    You missed the most important one:
    MESHUGGAH
  234. candy on June 4, 2011 1:01 pm
    How do you spell the world phonetically pronounced “Zi-rah-zi or Tsi-rah-zi” meaning like a bum, sleaze, loser?
  235. Me on June 7, 2011 12:04 pm
    The reason the ‘bubele’ is not in the dictionary is because, in Yiddish, the suffix ‘ele’ is a diminutive and a term of affection. So, for example, ‘meidel’ means ‘girl’ meidele’ means ‘little girl’ or is something you would call a girl affectionately.
  236. Helma on June 10, 2011 12:13 am
    Me June 7, bubele is an affectional word for a young boy, when approaching him or talking about him. It is a normal word spoken in the south-german language, although never spoken in the north-german language.
  237. careful on June 13, 2011 12:05 am
    Really enjoyed the definitions and had a few laughs too. Was curious and glad to come across this.
    Be careful of those who claim to be one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, because usually they are not. They are usually caustic people who choose to spread lies to others and twist the scriptures. They have given in to satan.
  238. Jared on June 17, 2011 12:02 am
    I’ve never heard most of these words and yet “schlep” wasn’t in here. I don’t understand.
  239. Josh on June 18, 2011 5:03 am
    Really enjoying the Yiddish words and the linguistic conversations. (not a fan of the politics/hatred/anti-anyone stuff)
    Will, perhaps the word you’re thinking of is “Putz”? Not a polite word (as I believe it’s one of the many Yiddish words for male anatomy) –but could definitely be used to describe a fool or a jerk
    Crystal, I’m not sure what the term would be for a “super salesman” but “Shyster” might be the term used for a con-artist who could sell ice in winter.
    A note about an earlier comment — the term Mazel Tov is generally used to express congratulations –but one of the beautiful things about Yiddish (IMHO) is that it can also be said sarcastically. So sometimes it can mean “that’s just great for you – you must be so thrilled –Not!” as in: “Your daughter is marrying a shvartza/Your son is marrying a shiksa — Mazel Tov.”
    (come on folks –if we’re truly interested in an honest discussion about how Yiddish is used, let’s be frank — “shiksa” and “shvartza” and others have been used in the past with negative connotation. Not suggesting it’s appropriate to continue to do so — but let’s not pretend to be surprised!)
    Thank you for this site — peace to all.
  240. me on June 20, 2011 5:50 pm
    In Brooklyn, all the hushed comments about “shvartzers” led to the inevitable talk about all the “vicers”, since the shvartzers might have figured out we were talking about them.
  241. bert on June 21, 2011 1:01 pm
    Oy vey already ! (Well, more in the sense of amazement !)
    This site is just loaded with amazing stuff !!
    It’s just a pity that I never have time to read it all :(
    Fantastic site !!
    Vielen dank :)
    Arigatou gozaimashita :)
  242. jessiethought on June 22, 2011 9:06 pm
    Wow. Really interesting. I didn’t know klutz was Yiddish.
  243. Vendulka on June 27, 2011 3:42 am
    My mother tongue is Czech.
    “Kibbitz” (or “kibic” in Czech) is used in exactly the same meaning in Czech you say it does not have in English – it is used for someone who is giving unwanted advice about someone else’s game :-)
    It sometimes goes in phrase “Kibic pod stůl” (“Kibbitz, go under the table” or “Kibbitz belongs under the table”).
    We also have a verb “kibicovat” which means “giving unwanted advice” (not only about a game but generally).
  244. MikeCG on July 5, 2011 11:48 pm
    “Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods” by Michael Wex is a great audio book (available from audible.com, Amazon.com, which owns audible.com, and probably elsewhere; download it to your iPod). It is also available in hard copy, but to listen to Wex speak the language provides a dimension one can’t get by reading a written text. His explanations of Yiddish origins are erudite and enlightening. Try it, you’ll like it!
  245. Harv on July 10, 2011 5:23 pm
    Brand new audio self-learn Yiddish or Hebrew for beginners.
  246. Richie on July 22, 2011 4:48 pm
    As a young boy, my siblings and I would sit in the back seat of the car on one of the many long drives into the country we would do on weekends. We tended to bother poor Dad quite a bit, so one thing we always got from him just as the good natured bothering commenced was “Don’t huk mik chynik” which sometimes broke down into a simple “don’t huck me to death” or something. To me, it always sounded like he was saying “huk a mecka chinika” I never quite understood it. I was like 5 at the time. Does anyone know the actual phrase? What does it mean? Something to do with being a nudnik I bet.
  247. Alice Spacey on August 7, 2011 9:09 am
    I am an A level student at a high school in England and am currently writing a short story for my EPQ (Extended Project Qualification). The title of my piece is “A short story exploring the life of a homosexual German-Jewish immigrant living in America during the 1950s”.
    This page has been very useful at giving me Yiddish phrases. However, I would like to know if anyone would be willing to read through my work and tell me if I’ve used words/phrases in the right context.
    If you wish to contact me could you please first reply on here, if you’re intersested, and then we can work on it from there.
    Thank you very much, again, for posting this online. And thank you for your time for reading this comment.
  248. Yiddishe Kop on August 12, 2011 4:03 am
    To Richie on July 22, 2011
    What you’re refering to is the phrase ” Hack nisht kien tchienik”, which means “stop bothering”, and is sometimes used in another phrase with the same meaning ” Drie nisht kien kop”.
  249. Harv Mayerowicz on August 16, 2011 6:07 pm
    First of all, I grew up in a home where my parents spoke Yiddish to my sister and me, but we answered just in English. I am 65 years old and have not heard much Yiddish in decades, so I can barely understand let alone speak the “mama loshen” (mother tongue).
    To address, the pedigree of Yiddish, let me say, that while it did begin as middle ages High German, it adopted words from each country where Jews lived. As a result, many speakers of many tongues can recognize words from their languages. I absolutely loved the observation by Robert Aitchison (#11) who said that Yiddish is middle age Ebonics. This was true for all Yiddish speakers until today.
    To the person, arguing about the theft of words from other languages, then as English speakers, we must admit to the same thievery. One of the reasons English is so difficult to master is its inconsistent and limited rules. The reason for this is that English is the mutt of the language kennel. We have adopted (stolen) words and rules from almost all the languages and language groups of Europe. This includes all the Romance languages including Latin. We have also stolen from the Greek, Scandinavian, Slavic language groups and others. In fact, I submit we are the most prolific language thieves in the Western world. So any carping about the lack of pedigree for Yiddish is due to a lack of understanding, or perhaps something more odious.
  250. Yiddishe Kop on August 22, 2011 2:17 am
    A most interesting sign appears in Brooklyn just as you leave the Williamsburg area, going onto the Williamsburg Bridge which goes to the East Side/Manhattan. It says “Leaving Brooklyn? Oy Vey !!”.
  251. Alison Lardner-Burke on August 27, 2011 10:45 pm
    If a schmuck is male anatomy, is a schmeckle what I think it is ..
    A South African , bluegum expression that caused my dad lots of angst when I used it , but being an anglo saxon victorian he could never bring himself to translate.
    Even Jews I know here in Australia dont know what it means….!
  252. Hittocere on August 29, 2011 7:04 am
    Wow… it just occured to me how many of these I remember hearing in the movie “Grumpy Old Men” and its sequel “Grumpier Old Men”. It just makes me laugh thinking about how many times the word Schmuck is used in it. Thank you for posting this.
  253. Dave on September 4, 2011 5:42 am
    Regarding “tachles” – thanks to Jan on May 15, another meaning is “to get to the point”, so “talking tachles” means “talking business”.
    I did not find in the whole discussion two Yiddish pearls – shlumper and bekitzer.
    The former is an untidy unkempt person, sometimes a child of wild disposition (“Oy vei, you look like a shlumper! Tidy up right away!”
    The latter is deriver from Hebrew – bekitzur – “in short”. Rather synonymous with “tachles”.
  254. mop456 on September 8, 2011 7:34 am
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  255. joe schrank on September 9, 2011 7:10 pm
    Yiddish is nowhere near ebonics, ebonics is just plain ghetto and useless.
  256. Yiddishe Kop on September 12, 2011 12:54 pm
    bekitzur is really not a Yiddish word, it stems from Lushen H’akodesh , but is used very often when speaking Yiddish.
  257. IIL on September 15, 2011 3:51 am
    A few corrections:
    first- about the Word “KIBITZER”
    it has nothing to do with KIBUTZ (Except for the root which does imply gathering – for hebrew speakres)
    In Yiddish it is a name for a begger (one who asks for handouts- trying to put two pennies together)
    - in Yiddish slang it also means for a guy begging for attention and thus allways sticks his nose in, and gives advice.
    and Naftali Arik- strictly speaking U R right: shelfish are “SHIKUTZ” or “SHERETZ” and not “TREIFE”, but “TREIFE” as the opposite of “COSHER” is generaly and widely acceptable.
    I liked the article
  258. N. Goldstock on September 15, 2011 7:28 pm
    Has anyone ever heard the word “Choydamakis” or “Hoydamakis”?
    At least that is how it sounded when my mother spoke it. It means a low-life or redneck or generally uncouth person/people.
  259. Mark_W on September 26, 2011 4:12 pm
    Growing up in the NYC metro area in the 60s, enjoying Jewish comics and sharing school classes with Jews, I would have expected that Yiddish expressions could be tossed about cheerfully alongside German ones. I found it not to be so. I was subject to suspicion and correction by kids who thought they owned these phrases. Gott be danken those days are gone! The great power of American English is its lack of an ‘academy’ to instruct us on what is and is not a word or phrase we may adopt for common use.
  260. Christopher on October 7, 2011 11:35 am
    We goyim just adore how that word translates to “animals”. Charming appelation for the chosen people to give to the rest of us.
  261. Chris Yost on October 28, 2011 6:00 pm
    Sorry, but you have one error so far that I’ve seen. In “Star Trek III”, Kirk does *not* say “Schmaltz” at all. He is repeating what Captain Kruge said when he beamed everyone but himself, Kirk, and Spock to his ship. The remaining Klingon crewman aboard was named “Matlh”, pronounced “Maltz” to our ear.
    In Klingonese, he said, “Matlh! jol yIchu’!”, which translates into, “Maltz! Activate beam!”
    Sorry, no Yiddish in that movie.
  262. carloscelistorres on November 1, 2011 1:10 pm
    6.- it rebs der gantze megileh … that tells the whole story …
    7.- a nar bleib a nar … a fool remains a fool
    8.- azoy brocht der kiegel … that is the way the cookie crumbles
  263. Peter Leighton on November 6, 2011 1:07 pm
    My Mum was English and brought up in an Irish/jewish neighbourhood in England in the 1930′s/40′s. Reading this I was amazed how many of these words I knew and had just never questioned where they came from, straight from my mothers childhood playing with Jewish kids from her neighbourhood…I never realised that till today…thankyou.
  264. Derek on November 9, 2011 8:09 pm
    N. Goldstock on September 15, 2011 wrote “Has anyone ever heard the word “Choydamakis” or “Hoydamakis”? At least that is how it sounded when my mother spoke it. It means a low-life or redneck or generally uncouth person/people.”
    The haidamaks were paramilitary peasant bands, mostly Cossack, in Ukraine in the eighteenth century. Very like Chmielnitski (yemach shemo). Your mother was spot on.
  265. Tzvi on November 20, 2011 4:12 pm
    Written very well, as fact I am Jewish and actually Chabad where Yiddish would be a second or third language (the other would be Hebrew)
    *Yankel Todris* : a random name used for Anonymous.
    *Kaput* : finished as in ‘I walked so much, my feet are going Kaput!’
    *Kaput Gemacht* : totally finished.
    *Alter Kaker/Terach* : Old Fart
    there are much much more sharp words in Yiddish..
  266. Barruy Koblentz on December 11, 2011 4:24 am
    The ultimate yiddish word is ungapochked. eg her furnishing are ungapchked(overdone). The other one is chutzpah. Nerve is saying to a guy “I slept with your wife”. Chutzpah is saying to a guy “I slept with your wife and she is lousy in bed”
  267. a1830 on December 21, 2011 1:36 pm
    I grew up and live in the Brooklyn hassidic community and yiddish. It’s so interesting to read all the comments and words that some of you have added here. I like the translations! Although, some words are hard to define because they are slang and you need to know where it makes sense to use them.
    To clarify the word ‘shvartze’=black. We do use it to describe a black person. Thats it. I don’t know why people like to think its a derogatory word. It’s definitely not instead of the word N.
    Goy is a Hebrew word. You can find it in the Torah. The real definition is ‘nation’. The Torah can refer even the Jewish people as ‘goy’. We use it as a non-jew, meaning a person from a different nation. It’s not supposed to be derogatory either. Goyta, means a female that is a non-jew. Hebrew words finish differently when used for a male, or female.
    Shikse, is to define a non-jewish female, can be used as someone not modest… “She looks like a shikse.”
    What about ‘hak nisht in kup’?
  268. Roberta on December 22, 2011 8:48 pm
    @a1830 on December 21, 2011 1:36 pm …. re: What about ‘hak nisht in kup’? Doesn’t that mean: “don’t you have anything in your head?” or simply “are you empty-headed?”
  269. Roberta on December 22, 2011 8:50 pm
    btw: love this site… I can almost hear my (deceased) parents talking to me! definitely a ‘warm-n-fuzzy’…. thank you.
  270. Andrew on December 29, 2011 2:20 pm
    Thanks for the site.
    Many Yiddish terms are used in German conversation, especially those of us who speak the dialect of our parents. My dad loved the Yiddish speaking Indians in “Blazing Saddles”.
    I am looking for proper spelling of the word “Kvatchz” or “Kavatch” which means “nonsense”.
  271. Claudia on December 30, 2011 4:09 am
    Has anyone ever heard the term cumma lemma like a schulb not very motivated person. Maybe I am spelling it wrong, would love any input. Heard it a lot growing up from my Jewish relatives.
    Thanks, Claudia
  272. Nelida K. on January 6, 2012 2:01 pm
    Thanks to Michael for posting this, and to all the other commenters and contributors who added to the original list (excluding of course the racist, uncalled-for snide remarks: this is a website about LANGUAGE, if you hadn’t noticed).
    To me, this was like meeting with friends whom I had not seen in a long time. I grew up in a Jewish home and used to speak and read Jewish and Hebrew fluently (and translate from the latter into the former as I read: cannot imagine how I did it, at the age of 11!) all of which is forgotten by now. I married outside my faith but always remained close to, and proud of, my heritage.
    Regarding Mazeltov, although “Good luck” is an appropriate translation, I sense it is offered more in the vein of “Congratulations”, as it is, indeed, a celebration of something good, or a festive occasion, that has happened to the individual it is said to.
    My two cents: “yeshive bocher” (both words from Hebrew), meaning those youths (male) who spent all their waking hours studying the Old Testament and Jumesh and Tanaj, the compilation of comments of rabbis and learned men.
    And, I don’t remember if anybody included it, but “bris” is the name given to the ceremony of circumcission.
    What I wanted to comment is that the influx of Yiddish words is so much more significant into English than it is in Spanish, my native tongue. With the exception of very few words, as for instance tuches, yarmulka, bris, Spanish has not incorporated much from Yiddish. Perhaps the size of the Jewish communities in Latin America may have something to do with it, or even the structure of the Spanish language. This leads me to the observation made by someone that Ladino is a “funny language”. I don’t really see how it is “funny”. Ladino is nothing but Middle Ages Spanish (of about the time Jews were expelled from Spain).
    @Roberta: “hak nit in kop”: literal translation is “don’t hit me on the head” and we used it as “don’t try my patience” or “don’t insist” “stop bothering me”, “enough already”.
    And to close my comment, Merriam-Webster (and many other dictionaries as well) has incorporated as parts of the English language and vocabulary, many words originating or borrowed from Yiddish and acknowledged as such in its etymology.
  273. Carlo on January 9, 2012 10:06 pm
    Please note that the Yiddish “meshpucha” (family) is not the equivalent of the Maori “mokopuna” as the latter means grandchild.
  274. Xevioso on January 12, 2012 9:52 pm
    Where does the word “ditz” come from? Is this a Yiddish word or is this Yiddish?
    Specifically, it is a derogatory word used to refer to certain women, namely, someone who is flaky or an airhead.
    As in, she’s such a ditz. I hear this all the time; it’s slang but I never knew if this was a Yiddish word or not. It sure sounds like one.
  275. Lydia aka Libbeh on January 24, 2012 9:22 pm
    Best Yiddish curse I heard – ‘zul em vaksin a burekeh en boych un zel er pishen borscht’ – translation – he should grow a beet in his stomach and he should pee borscht. Doesn’t get any better than that.
  276. Leah on January 29, 2012 1:28 am
    You describe “kosher” as:
    “Something that’s acceptable to Orthodox Jews, especially food. Other Jews may also “eat kosher” on some level but are not required to.”
    You must be a goy to say that. ALL Jews are required to keep the mitzvahs. All Jews are commanded to be Torah observant. There’s no such thing as ‘Orthodox Jews and other Jews’. There’s either Torah observant Jews or non-observant Jews.
  277. ron on February 10, 2012 7:51 pm
    The schlemile spills his soup
    the Sclamazle spills his soup on himself
    the schmegeggie spills the schlamazel;s
    soup on the schlemile and himself
  278. Dale Fedderson on February 26, 2012 4:04 am
    “Oy, gevalt!” when you are about to be hit by a car. “Oy, gestalt!” when you are about to be hit by a whole new concept of reality.
    Joke courtesy of my half-japanese, half-mexican brother Rick. Yiddish gets around. (He later married a nice Jewish girl, so I guess he saw it comming).
  279. Ed on February 28, 2012 3:01 pm
    Nice of you to compile this list, but I can tell you just from looking it over quickly, there are mistakes here.
    Examples:
    Kibbitz and kibbutz are totally unrelated.
    Schmitzig is not a current “derivation” of Schmutz. It’s simply the adjective and has been around forever.
    There are lots more mistakes, and I hope you eventually correct them
  280. Ed on February 28, 2012 3:21 pm
    Hi Alice Spacey,
    I could help you, but you should know that a German Jew would not be using the Yiddish words on this list. German Jews spoke a Judaeo-German dialect among themselves or spoke only German. The Judaeo-German words are little-known in the US, but many are related to Yiddish; however, they are pronounced very differently. There is a book that goes into all of this, written by Werner Weinberg, a German Jew. It is written in German.
  281. Blair Feinman on March 1, 2012 7:31 pm
    Yiddish actually got its start and its greatest level of creative growth in the Netherlands NOT Germany. Most people do not know this. The Dutch Jews invented the Yiddish that spread to Germany.
    Yiddish is a separate language from German linguistically. There is absolutely no evidence that Germans lent words to Yiddish. Its the other way around. When the Jews moved into Germany in the 8th and 9th Century AD to set up a civilized network of stores and towns – the “german people” were illiterate to a man. The Jews set up the first language schools.
    The national German tongue we know today borrows about 20% from its Jewish roots. (that’s what got the nazis so upset) they wanted to destroy the true origins of German society and any historians or evidence that contradicted their new “made up story” of German history. (now you know what really happened)
  282. Alexander on March 6, 2012 7:03 pm
    Terrific list! Am familiar with — and use — many of them. However, including pronunciation would be appreciated.
  283. Bina on April 4, 2012 1:02 pm
    The word mishpokhe for family also exists in modern German today (=Mischpoke). It has a bad connotation and refers to large families – usually of “foreign” origin. Maybe it is because families with many children are not very common in Germany so that people are prejudiced?! I don’t know. It does not refer to Jewish families in particular – it is also used for German “clans”. Personally, I have never heard this word being used in a positive or neutral context. Additionally, I would doubt that most Germans know that it actually means “family” and is Yiddish.
  284. Bina on April 4, 2012 1:17 pm
    BTW: “The Meaning of Tingo” by Adam Jacot de Boinod is a great book! It lists and explains words used in other languages that English has no equivalent for.
  285. Robin on April 21, 2012 10:10 am
    Perhaps this is nuanced, but Yiddish generally is. Yiddisher kop goes beyond just a “smart person” to mean a “logical, or clever person.” When someone takes the ordinary and is creative with it — and they are Jewish — they’ve got a Yiddisher kop. Goyisher kop, is not a stupid person as much as one that is not logical — clumsy of thought.
  286. Mirel on June 11, 2012 2:42 pm
    I must say, had a great time reading through the site- despite the occasional unworthy post. Years ago when I took a year of Yiddish in college we were told that modern German and Yiddish both developed separately from Middle German, and of course, Yiddish also incorporated many words from and expressions from Hebrew and Aramaic and the various places where Jews were scattered…
    Regarding Mazal Tov (actually Hebrew) while its literal meaning is good luck, it is actually used for congratulations. If you wanted to wish someone luck in some endeavor or the other, you would say something along the lines of “zei mit mazel”
    If I’m not mistaken, “hock” actually means hit. “hock mir nisht in kop (arein)” loosely translates as leave me alone, stop bothering me but literally is closer to stop banging away at my head. The “chainik” is a tea kettle (from Russian chai, or tea), so that expression would literally mean don’t bang the teakettle, and would loosely translate again as stop bothering me or let it rest.
    As someone pointed out, the term “goy” is from the Hebrew and means nation. There are various Biblical passages referring to the Jewish people as “goy” as in the exhortation to be a “goy kadosh” a holy nation. Usually, when used to refer to a single individual or in the plural form of goyim, it refers to a gentile or gentiles. Shegitz (pronounced shay-gitz) is a Yiddish term meaning the same thing. Both terms are neutral in connotation. What makes the term derogatory (or not) is tone of voice. Perhaps an English speaker who only uses Yiddish to express strong feelings might save it for a derogatory use, but among Yiddish speakers, it is neutral. If your next door neighbor is a gentile- you could say “Ich wohn neben a goy/shegitz,” and all it means is that you live next to a gentile. If he was an s.o.b, you’d probably add a nice juicy adjective before the noun.
    Unfortunately, the reality of Jewish diaspora experience was often harsh and full of mistreatment by their gentile neighbors, which may be why there are many cases when the term is not used lovingly. However, there are good and bad people among any and every race, nation, people whatever. And therefore just as there are good and bad Jews, there are good and bad goyim and shegitzes (and goytas and shiksas).
  287. Jack on June 19, 2012 5:25 pm
    Mishpokhe (pronounced: mish-pa-kha) is from Hebrew, meaning family, so it is interesting if that word is also used in German.
    Goy is also from Hebrew and literally means nation. The people of ha’goyim, the nations, of the world, were gentile, vs. ha’goy Yisrael (the nation of Israel) and thus, goy became a word to describe gentiles.
    Bris is the Ashkenaz way of pronouncing the Hebrew word brit or brith, and literally means covenant. The Bris Mila is the covenant of the circumcision, shortened to Bris in everyday language.
    I was going to comment about the word ‘treyf’ but someone else already handled that very capably. Glatt is another word that is sometimes used mistakenly. Some think glatt kosher means very kosher, but it actually refers to the the condition of the organs (lungs) of a slaughtered animal. After slaughter, the lungs will be inspected to ensure they are smooth (glatt) and not treyf (torn or ripped)
    On another note, it is amazing how antisemitism creeps into discussions like these and even more amazing how such haters try to justify their hate.
  288. Doug Ross on June 26, 2012 3:26 pm
    Oy vey! Our family used to make up words no other families knew or used – like, was some group of people sitting around and someone suddenly said, “Oy vey”! And another said, “man, that really sounds like it stands for “woe is me”. But, truthfully, thanks! I’m now a maven of slang!
    Doug Ross
  289. Bruce on July 7, 2012 5:12 am
    My brother recommended I would possibly like this blog. He used to be entirely right. This publish actually made my day. You can not consider just how much time I had spent for this information! Thank you!
  290. al on July 22, 2012 1:20 pm
    Shikse = female abomination
    Goyim = cattle
    Yiddish and Jewish culture are quirky and fun. But know the truth.
  291. Barbara Levitt Lichtman on August 8, 2012 10:15 pm
    To all my Yiddish friends all over the world:
    My beloved step mother spoke Yiddish in what I call kind of a smorgasbord of ways—-it was very colorful and fun.Sometimes it was pure Yiddish -sometimes a mix with English ,sometimes made up words.
    One of the words-terms I have never heard is ‘ yoshkee pondray’-
    She would say this when she saw a shrine in a back yard— does anyone know what it means?my childhood was filled with a zillion ‘gay shlof ins ‘
    —sound familiar anyone.?
  292. Johann on August 18, 2012 11:07 am
    I enjoyed this site and can as a native German speaker confirm,that many Jiddish words are easily understood -allowing for a different spelling in modern German.Some are used in Southern German dialects, such as Bueble or Maedle, others are high German: Quatsch (nonsense),Schlampe (unkempt,female) ,Tacheles reden (having a serious talk).Other words are used in every day German language, like schleppen (carrying of heavy loads),hocken (South German for sitzen = to sit) ,Massel haben (to be lucky),ein bisserl (South German = a bit) etc.
    I hope that Jiddish thrives as a living language.
  293. Brien Kinkel on September 15, 2012 1:39 pm
    Baruch Atta (above) gets a bit off-topic by suggesting there are only four words in English derived from Arabic. There are dozens. A good place to start is Wikepedia’s “List of Arab Loan Words in English,” a thoroughly annotated and authorotative list.
  294. Kathy on October 29, 2012 1:49 am
    @Alt MIchael, you are way off…while not all these words are in common use in English, who doesn’t at least know schlep, or chutzpah, or schlock, shtick, schmaltzy, speil (schpeil?)schmooze, bupkes, glitch, maven, nosh, and klutz Even though I had little exposure to the Jewish community most of my younger years, these words, at least, were common enough vocabulary around me….I just didn’t know they were yiddish till I was an adult! (and didn’t know “glitch” and “klutz” were yiddish till I read this article!)
    As an adult, other words I commonly hear are… kvetsh, tuches, kibbitz, and schmutz.
  295. Michelle on August 16, 2013 2:10 pm
    Wow, what wonderful memories this brings back! I grew up in Brooklyn in the 70′s – my Nana spoke Yiddish constantly. Since moving in teens to Washington, I don’t hear much of it. However I do find myself saying words in Yiddish, and now I even recall more since reading this!! I am going to make sure my Children and Grandchildren get to hear as much yiddish as possible, so as not to lose this from their lives – it would be such a loss.
  296. Cocoismo pa ti on October 12, 2013 10:01 pm
    Oy vey, love to just hear when said, ja ja ja. Spiel, I use that all the time, didn’t know it was Yiddish.
    Born in the Bronx, 1950′s, I hear first said. I lived in a Jewish, Puerto Rican street, Fox street. A lot of Eastern Jews lived on my street, survivors.
    Love the word mishegas, ja ja ja, o yes, I use that 2.
    Spiel, when your running a c=scam on someone.
    Bupkes~ you get nothing, ja ja ja bupkes.
    Chutzpah, you got balls/cajones,nerve, daring action giver
    I love growing up in New York City.Moving back.
  297. Lily on January 30, 2014 12:20 am
    Yiddish is, in short, Middle High German – the Medieval German that the Jews took with them when they fled the persecutions of the Crusades in the Rhineland to settle in Poland, invited by King Casimir of the 13th Century.
    It only became Yiddish when these Jews were no longer in Germany -
    When they still lived in Germany, it was simply German, as spoken by all of the inhabitants.
    In Eastern Europe – Poland, Ukraine, etc, is became the Jewish vernacular, and later (basically in the 19th century) a literary language, used for fiction, drama, poetry, etc. Most of the European classics were translated into Yiddish in the 19th-20h centuries.
    Refer to: Yiddish theatre, Max Weinrich Institute, YIVO
    Happy researching.
  298. Helen Goldman on February 24, 2014 10:24 pm
    Why so many discussions about where, how and when the yiddish language originated? Enjoy it! It’s self explanatory and has such a flavorful way of entertaining ” the taste ” buds ( Tom ) with colorful words and meanings.
    It dignifies a thought process in such a manner, as to be the pepper and salt, that adds ” Tom ” the spice, to the language. Borscht belt co medians used an use it to this day. Many words, expressions are picked up by many people with no regard to ethnicity.
    Yes, I am a former New Yawker who learned the language just by listening to older family members all of whom didn’t want the. ” kleiner” ( little one ) to understand adult speech. Little did they realize, I would end up understanding and speaking it.
    To get back to my original premise, enjoy it! Use it. it really rocks!
    A bie gezundt.
    Be well,
    Helen, 91 and still swingin’.
  299. Big Mitch on March 18, 2014 4:43 am
    1. Someone who speaks Yiddish better than I do can translate the sentence, “grandfather said, “Gentlemen, let us pray.” In that sentence every wod has a different linguistic origin. The word in this sentence for pray, “bentchen,” comes from the Latin which also provides the root for benediction.
    2. I have often thought that if we could find a lot of second and third generation Americans whose grandparents spoke Yiddish, and study what Yiddish words they know, we might get an insight into Jewish values. For example, the word “shikker” would be widely known, I imagine, although few examples of Jewish alcoholics would be recalled. Is this a clue to the disdain with which Jews regard drunkards?
    3. I also have noticed that swear words in Yiddish never have the same nasty connotations that they do in English. Here are some examples:
    3.a Shtup in Yiddish literally to push. It is used to refer to the sexual act, but it also to refer to tipping, i.e. giving a gratuity to a service person, or to “comping” someone some free tickets. (pushing them across the desk to the recipient.) Cf: the four-letter Anglo-Saxon word for the sex act, when used metaphorically means to do something mean to another.
    3.b. A ‘momser’ is an illegitimate chid. The word comes from the Hebrew. In Yiddish the connotation is of a “love-child,” one who will steal your heart away if you are not careful. Wouldn’t you rather be called a ‘momser’ than a bastard?
    3.c. Is someone calls you a prick, them’s fighting words. More so, if he calls you a “horse’s dick.” But if he calls you a schmuck, he only means to say that you are a foolish and perhaps ineffectual person.
    3.d. “A grubbe yingle” means, roughly, “a dirty little penis.” In English, those words would be said to denote a mean, dispicable person. In Yiddish, it’s no compliment, but the insult is more like, “a course, unrefined person.”
    3.e. Or consider the word, “putz,” with the connotation of a weak, inneffectual person. What would be the literal English translation?
    4. The word “shikse” is derived from the word for “blemish.” It originally referred to a Jewish woman who was insufficiently observant, and therefore tarnished her family’s reputation. Later, it was extended to mean a non-Jewish girl, but it never lost its negative connotation.
    5. My father often called me, “Menachem Mendel, Kock in fendel.” Menachem Mendel is my given name: the rest of the sentence means, “Go shit in a pan.” The first time the rabbi called me up to open the ark, he asked me my Hebrew name. Hilarity ensued.
    6. Finally, on the subject of schvartze: If you are speaking Yiddish it might be a perfectly acceptable word to describe a Black person. However, if it is the only Yiddish word in an English sentence, it is definitely perjorative. Also, in the 1950′s, in NYC, the word was used to refer to a domestic, regardless of her race.
  300. Alex Howard on April 17, 2014 1:10 pm
    Thank you for the list, however short.
    I did try to read all comments, but there is only so much time …
    My late mother waited until I was 33 years old, to give me Leo Rosten’s “The Joys of Yiddish,” a book which can teach many Yiddish words and expressions.
    Both my parents, though born in the USA, spoke Yiddish before English and like many families, only spoke Yiddish when they didn’t want their kids to know what they were saying.
    I remember my father telling me there were two main types of Yiddish. Forgive my spelling, as I am trying to be phonetic … the two were Litvak and Galitzianer. Each one influenced pronunciation, and indicated from which part of Europe you originated. I think one was mainly Poland, the other Russian, but I admit I may indeed be wrong.
    Again, thanks for this list of words, and thanks to all who tried to add some good ones, many of which are in use in common English speech these days.
    Zi Gesunt! To all who genuinely added to this conversation.
    Alex, otherwise known to my friends as Unka Heshie
  301. Jonathan Stensland on May 20, 2014 7:47 pm
    I clicked into this discussion after my iPhone wouldn’t autocorrect “Mazel Tov” when congratulating a friend on a new position. I was bugged my Apfel couldn’t shpeddle. And I have no idea if shpeddle is a word in any language, let alone Yiddish. But it’s the spirit if it that I love; the Yiddish
    sound+sense+gripe+joy+endearment+boiled vowels with cabbaged consonants. So delicious and somehow seaming to steam a promise of an expression for every impression possible; as if Yiddish can indent any dent in a dented heart. A body shop for whatever daily or more rare damaged might insult a human heart. In Yiddish, I thought maybe, there it is: the language that forgives every situation by digesting it with a nifty linguistic twist, tuck, lift. Thank You for the Language, whether we really “get it” yet, or don’t!! I know I have ancestry in the language but adoptions and wars and shifts and all the brack (made-up word), a thread can keep going that does not break. With that, I find myself noticing a line between respect for a culture and then a kind of joy that rises up all around it, like spelt (rustic wheat) through a bed-spring. How crucial is the respect for Yiddish (as artifact) as opposed to the joy that leaps up through its cadence, inflections, phonetic content and imagination? I lean toward joy because I do not have cachez in the culturally correct grasp of the language. Nonetheless, their is a grief in my chest that celebrates that fact and critically-celebrates my ignorance with some chagrin. And with it, 400-times more joy that this Yiddish permission to bust-up English into spelt somehow exists. What about the heart of a language resurrected for whatever good-hearted reason: does it receive any kind if blessing? Can it? Is there a Yiddish for our time; echoes of a spirit that never dies? Maybe the problems aren’t the same…and the Spirit has no problem with losing some problems to enjoy new ones, the fresh taste of language doing what languages have always done…chew through silence, less with the teeth and possibly more with the tonsils and the tongue. Cheers!!
  302. Julie on June 2, 2014 3:44 pm
    Keep in mind that many words from yiddish entered into the American vernacular from family members. We Americans seem to intermarry maybe more easily than than some other places (YMMV), and many famlies have Jewish ancestry without knowing it.
    My ex-husband and my daughter only know because his mother is into geneology. Through her hobby, his family found the “other” side of the family. Some of the family were Jewish and in hiding. The traditions got passed down to the daughters but not the sons. The family members from that branch who descended from the daughters are still Jewish (openly, now). The family members descended from the sons are gentile. But, of course, little linguistic bits migrated.
    I wonder how many other American families are out there with similar histories? Most of the words above are in common usage in the groups of people I grew up with, with their slang meanings, and used all the time. Many of them, we used growing up just as a natural part of American English without ever knowing their etymology.
    It didn’t all come from Hollywood or mass media or being goyim neighbors to Jewish communities. Some of the migration of Yiddish into American English came from family.
    A lot of Americans feel a kind of kinship with Israelis, and outsiders frequently chalk it up to American right-wing versions of Christianity. I think we shouldn’t forget that some of the feelings of kinship have roots in actual kinship that our various ancestors, for whatever reasons, chose to “forget.”
    Perhaps blood remembers.
  303. Daniel on June 25, 2014 6:06 pm
    Whenever I used to tell my grandmother I was bored she would say, “Shlog zich kop in vant!”.
    Translation: Go bang your head against the wall!