Comments on: Ten Yiddish Expressions You Should Know

By: CEBailey

CEBailey — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:39:31 +0000

I love it. Thanks!

By: Katelyn

Katelyn — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:02:11 +0000

you know, “schmuck” actually comes from German origin, just like “spiel” does. “Schmuck” is the German word for “Jewelry”, which would explain as to why it refers to the male anatomy. Family Jewels, anyone?

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 05:23:38 +0000

@Joani:

Ver veyst?

By: Joani

Joani — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:01:26 +0000

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.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 04:08:39 +0000

@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.