Ten Yiddish Expressions You Should Know
For a language originally spoken only by Eastern European Jews, Yiddish has certainly found its way into common English. My wife was raised in a farming region in the American Midwest and never knew any Jewish people as a child, so she was surprised when I informed her that she uses Yiddish words all the time. Most Yiddish words comes from German, as well as Hebrew and the Slavic languages, but they’ve entered the popular English language through the entertainment industry and East Coast American society. I like the sound of Yiddish words that begin with the letter S, especially sh, and here are some of my favorites.
1. 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.
2. shlemiel
A clumsy, inept person, similar to a klutz (also a Yiddish word). The kind of person who always spills his soup.
3. 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.
4. shmooze
Chat, make small talk, converse about nothing in particular. But at Hollywood parties, guests often schmooze with people they want to impress.
5. 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.
6. schlock
Cheap, shoddy, or inferior, as in, “I don’t know why I bought this schlocky souvenir.”
7. 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 for play.
8. 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.
9. shalom
It means “deep peace,” and isn’t that a more meaningful greeting than “Hi, how are ya?”
10. shtik
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.
Update: We published a new post with 40 Yiddish words that you should check out!
Michael on December 6, 2007 
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Does “oy vey” not feature in here?
Oh no, I didn’t read the post in its entirety… now I feel like a shlemiel.
Wikipedia has another good list (which includes oy vey) at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.....ish_origin
Interesting list, I had seen many before without connecting the origin.
Great list. I had no idea that “glitch” and “spiel” were Yiddish words… I guess you learn something new every day.
Thank you!
Isn’t “shalom” Hebrew rather than Yiddish?
Also, regarding the spelling of the words — is it equally acceptable to begin them with sh- and sch-?
I usually see them with the sch- beginning, but it strikes me as kind of like Chanukah/Hannukah, where there’s not really a standard English equivalent. But I always wonder which is correct when I write them down!
Um, that was supposed to be Hanukkah. Oy!
Unfortunately, there isn’t an Academie Yiddische, like the Academie Francaise, that determines the correct English spelling of Yiddish words. I usually saw them written with sch- but my latest sources seemed more… authoritative.
I never knew where shlimazel came from in Laverne and Shirley! And the origins of spiel and glitch were an interesting surprise.
I am very partial to mensch (which Yiddishkeit says is spelled mentsh) and Mazel Tov is fun to say.
Thanks for a fun and informative post.
Was sad not to see plotz on the list until I got to the bottom. LOL
Great list, but you forgot schmendrik!
Yes, schmendrick would be an 11th Yiddish word that would be good to know, if you really needed yet another way of calling someone a fool, a jerk, a ne’er-do-well, almost an idiot, a clueless person, someone who’s dumb, stupid or not worthy of respect.
Of course when I read Scott’s post, I immediately thought of the character from “The Last Unicorn”.
That’s where I got it…I thought it sounded Yiddish so I googled it and found out what it meant.
Too cool!
Sorry, but `schmuck’ refers to the FEMALE genitalia.
William, you can read about the origins and definitions at http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/schmuck
Is there some reason why they all begin in “sh” or “sch” - the shh sound? Since most are derogatory or pejorative in some way is there something about that sound signifies in Yiddish?
Just found it interesting.
Sorry, I meant is there something that sound signifies in Yiddish?
A lot of popular Yiddish words are derogatory. I think the sh sound is onomatopoetic - it just sounds derogatory.
Michael: are you telling me my Jewish friend and his Jewish wife were wrong when they told me it referred to female genitalia? I find that difficult to believe . . . but hey, who knows?
Jews spell it “Chanukah,” these letters–cha-nu-kah being the closest English spelling equivalent to the Hebrew letters. Non-Jews, goyim, if you prefer, spell it Hanukkah, without any reason.
William Wilgus on December 7th, 2007 commented “but `schmuck’ refers to the FEMALE genitalia.”
A Jew myself, for nearly 75 years, I never heard the term, nor used it, to apply to any body part but the–excuse my expression–the penis.
Katy on December 6th, 2007 asks Isn’t “shalom” Hebrew rather than Yiddish?
Yes, it is Hebrew, meaning “hello,” “goodbye,” or “peace,” depending on context. The word “shalom”, as well, has been adopted into Yiddish, as have many other Hebrew words.
You do know, I assume, that Hebrew and Yiddish use the identical alphabet, though the pronunciation of the letters (apart from regional dialects, mispronunciations, and accents) varies between the two languages.
I always thought ’spiel’ was from the German word ’spiel’ or ’spielen’ which means to play.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=spiel
Great post!
For those who want to start learning Yiddish seriously, we are starting Yiddish language courses over the internet. For further information have a look at http://www.eYiddish.org
Sami
A fantastic and funny reference book for Yiddish words is the Joys of Yiddish by Leo Rosten. I haven’t seen the new book that his daughter put out, but I’ve heard mixed reviews (to put it nicely).
Some of these and I think a lot more Yiddish words are still part of everyday german language.
shlep –> schleppen
shlimazel –> Schlamassel, but it’s not used to describe a person, but a mess someone has gotten into.
shmaltzy –> schmalzig
spiel is, as you said, the german word for “game” or “to play” (can be either noun of verb), I’ve never heard it used in the way you describe it though.
I’m not sure about whether these were german words, adapted into yiddish or vice versa.
One of the members of Yahoo’s Yiddish Forum says:
So, what does “hasenfeffer incorporated” mean?
In context, hasenpfeffer does sound a little nonsensical. But then, it’s a children’s chant. Hasenpfeffer is a German stew made with marinated rabbit, or sometimes squirrel, and maybe with chicken. Rabbits and squirrels aren’t kosher.
Annette, you’re right. Yiddish is based on very old German. Some words such as shpiel have changed their connotations over the centuries. But it still means “play” too - I laughed when, on their Yiddish version of the Beatle’s Hard Day’s Night, California Klezmer introduced the guitar solo with “Shpiel!” How do you say, “Rock on” in Yiddish?
what is the meaning of shh in hebrew? thanks.
Michael wrote:
“Unfortunately, there isn’t an Academie Yiddische, like the Academie Francaise, that determines the correct English spelling of Yiddish words…”
Yivo Institute:
http://www.yivoinstitute.org/
See especially:
http://www.yivoinstitute.org/y.....eys_fr.htm
Of course, YIVO is the supreme authority on the Litvish dialect. But as we pointed out in our companion post The Yiddish Handbook, many of the most common Yiddish expressions that entered the English language came from Southern Yiddish. Today, most Yiddish speakers use the Poylish or Ukrainish dialects. So nu.
growing up in brooklyn i used to hear my grandfather say “mashug af tate” . Was this a common expression? What is the literal translation and did I spell it correctly?
@raymond:
That would I think be “meshuge af teyt”, crazy to death. (Teyt is Lithuanian Yiddish - “toyt” in other dialects).
@Michael
The Romanization system promulgated by Yivo is equally as applicable to Litvish, Poylish and Ukrainish as it is to Standard Yiddish, e.g., in my message #38, above. Or, to give another example, one could write “vos” or “vus” according to dialect.
As with any other spelling system, consistency and simplicity are nice. It makes no sense to use sh- plus the Germanish s- and sch- for the same sound, or to emulate the peculiarities of English or German in “schmuck/schlock” rather than the no-frills “shmok/shlak”, which have no extra letters that do not correspond to anything in Yiddish speech or writing.
Was looking for the spelling of “Vi Veys?” which I believe means
“who knows?” Was just writing to a former Sister-in-Law whose
(my son’s grandparents) were from Chekoslovakia/Austria-Hungary.
I learned a lot of Yiddish expressions as we were family for 20+
years in New York City.
@Joani:
Ver veyst?