![]() ![]() ![]() To nibble a light snack, but you won’t be light if you don’t stop noshing. It means “family,” as in “Relax, you’re mishpocheh. If you want to insult someone, you can ask them, ”Does it hurt to be crazy?” mentsh An honorable, decent person, an authentic person, a person who helps you when you need help.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.” When someone gets married or has a child or graduates from college, this is what you say to them. 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. Reminds you of certain chronic complainers, doesn’t it? But it’s also used on Yiddish web pages for “click” (Click Here). 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.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.” An observant Jew might add, “Both pork and shellfish are doubtlessly very tasty. Food that Orthodox Jews don’t eat – pork, shellfish, etc. Other Jews may also “eat kosher” on some level but are not required to. kosher Something that’s acceptable to Orthodox Jews, especially food.Literally means “a block of wood,” so it’s often used for a dense, clumsy or awkward person. It didn’t originally mean giving unwanted advice about someone else’s game – that’s an American innovation. 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.Putting mayonnaise on a pastrami sandwich on white bread is even more goyish. Putting mayonnaise on a pastrami sandwich is goyish. 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. gornisht More polite than bupkes, and also implies a strong sense of nothing used in phrases such as “gornisht helfn” (beyond help).Literally “slip,” “skate,” or “nosedive,” which was the origin of the common American usage as “a minor problem or error.” feh! An expression of disgust or disapproval, representative of the sound of spitting.In English, chutzpah often connotes courage or confidence, but among Yiddish speakers, it is not a compliment. Nerve, extreme arrogance, brazen presumption. “After all the work I did, I got bupkes!” 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. Bubele is a similarly affectionate word, though it isn’t in Yiddish dictionaries. It means Grandmother, and bobeshi is the more affectionate form. baleboste A good homemaker, a woman who’s in charge of her home and will make sure you remember it.Tuches (tuchis) - Butt, behind, sometimes shortened to tush or tushy. Tchotchke (tchatchke)- Knick-knack, little toy, collectible or giftware. Tachlis -Nuts and bolts, practical, concrete matters. Shande (shanda, shonda) - A scandal, embarrassment. Schmuck (shmuck)-A jerk, or a self-made fool, but this word literally means penis. Schmooze (shmooze)- Chat, make small talk, converse about nothing in particular. Schlep - To carry or travel with difficulty, as in “We shlepped here all the way from New Jersey.” Putz -A jerk, or a self-made fool, but this word literally means penis. Oy vey-An expression of woe, as in “Oy vey, we left the gefilte fish at the grocery store!” Nosh - To eat or nibble, as in “I’d like something to nosh on before dinner.” Can also be used as a noun to mean any kind of food. Mishpocheh (mishpokhe, mishpucha)- Family, or someone who is “like family” Meshuggeneh - Crazy, ridiculous, insane, as in, “He must be meshuggeneh to think he can wear that getup to a funeral.” (A related word is mishegoss, or craziness.) Mensch (mentsch)- Literally “man,” an honorable, decent, stand-up person, as in, “I don’t care who you marry, as long as he’s a mensch.” Kvetch - To complain, whine or fret, as in “He likes to kvetch at me when we serve kasha varniskes, because he doesn’t like it.” ![]()
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