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.
- baleboste
A good homemaker, a woman who’s in charge of her home and will make sure you remember it. - bissel
Or bisl – a little bit. - 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. - 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!” - 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. - feh!
An expression of disgust or disapproval, representative of the sound of spitting. - glitch
Or glitsh. Literally “slip,” “skate,” or “nosedive,” which was the origin of the common American usage as “a minor problem or error.” - gornisht
More polite than bupkes, and also implies a strong sense of nothing; used in phrases such as “gornisht helfn” (beyond help). - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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.” - 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). - maven
Pronounced meyven. An expert, often used sarcastically. - 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.” - mentsh
An honorable, decent person, an authentic person, a person who helps you when you need help. Can be a man, woman or child. - 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?” - mishpocheh
Or mishpokhe or mishpucha. It means “family,” as in “Relax, you’re mishpocheh. I’ll sell it to you at wholesale.” - 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. - nu
A general word that calls for a reply. It can mean, “So?” “Huh?” “Well?” “What’s up?” or “Hello?” - 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. - 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. - shalom
It means “deep peace,” and isn’t that a more meaningful greeting than “Hi, how are ya?” - 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. - shlemiel
A clumsy, inept person, similar to a klutz (also a Yiddish word). The kind of person who always spills his soup. - schlock
Cheap, shoddy, or inferior, as in, “I don’t know why I bought this schlocky souvenir.” - 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. - shmendrik
A jerk, a stupid person, popularized in The Last Unicorn and Welcome Back Kotter. - 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. - shmooze
Chat, make small talk, converse about nothing in particular. But at Hollywood parties, guests often schmooze with people they want to impress. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - tsuris
Or tsores. Serious troubles, not minor annoyances. Plagues of lice, gnats, flies, locusts, hail, death… now, those were tsuris. - tuches
Rear end, bottom, backside, buttocks. In proper Yiddish, it’s spelled tuchis or tuches or tokhis, and was the origin of the American slang word tush. - 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. - yiddisher kop
Smart person. Literally means “Jewish head.” I don’t want to know what goyisher 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.
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.
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!
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)
Many words seem to originate in the German language, or is it perhaps the other way round? 😉
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
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 !!!
Yes toneii , Jews know exactly how to refer stuff to them self, like Homos, Jerusalem, their language etc.
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.
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!
Is there any kind of relationship between Yiddish and Gaelic?
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.
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.
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.
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.”
@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.
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.
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.
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?
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!
@ 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
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
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.
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 🙂
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 !!!
YIVO page:
I really love this “Yiddish Handbook” page, as it allows an easy and productive communication between Yiddish lovers.
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…
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.
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.
YakDriver : concerning your post on Jan 8: Is that your opinion? Or is it a FACT?
I’m interested in learning ho w to speak Yiddish. What would you suggest?
Required reading for all smart-asses! Great list. Thanks!
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.
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
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!
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”.
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.
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.
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?
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
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.
(Gah. Please forgive the typos. It’s not even 6am here.)
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.
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.
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.