Do you use Yiddishisms in your daily speech?

no

Ha, yes, sometimes. “Kaput” makes it into my vocabulary because of a story a friend told me a long time ago; I use klutz and “you want I should” more often than I should. :D And chutzpah, but living in AZ, cojones is more common!

Not so much anymore, but I used to use them more when I was married to a Jewish man. I still love these: Mensch, Mitzvah, and (what I am) Shiksa. My kids’ grandmother on their dad’s side is called Bubbe.

@rag Didn’t think so. You don’t have to answer my questions, you know.

@evegrimm Cojones is an internationally wonderful word!

@augustlan You are a sheyna shikse in my book.

Nope.
But for the record, my shmekele is huge

@Zen, isn’t it?

I thought this site was helpful for figuring out what words I use that are Yiddish…and some fun ones to add in.

@Sarcasm You just used “shmekele.” Now prove it.

לא ביידיש. רק ביטויים עברית.

There are a surprising amount of yiddish influenced words in English. For example, the word glitch entered english through the yiddish word glitsh.

@AstroChuck ZOOM! Like a stock car, that goes expediently over one’s head.

I’m not sure if plethora falls into this category. I also use kerfufel.

No, I don’t, but Hubby occasionally does, and his Mom and Dad sprinkle yiddish throughout their regular speech.

Yes, I use them all the time and tend to forget that some may not know what I’m talking about.

I kvetch on a regular basis and especially when I have to schlepp a lot of stuff. That’s just meshuggah as far as I’m concerned. And when I see the picture of little McCauley Culkin with his face in his hands in Home Alone I want to caption it “oy vey !” and tell him to stop futzing around.

After all, I did grow up on Long
Island.

I do. Not a lot, but a fair sprinkling, mostly when the Yiddish expression says it best. Chutzpah is a notable example.

Plethora is Greek. Kerfluffle comes from a Scottish expression.

@jeruba thx!

@AstroChuck Kol Hakavod! מאיפה אתה יודע עברית?

I’m always going on about some shvartze or other…

Oy vey, I don’t have time for your little shpiel about Yiddishisms…

Yes.

Yes – to the point where I have been mistaken for Jewish.

I spent about five years working for a Jewish couple and picked up a bit from them. Plus, when I used to work in event design, most of the clients were Jewish.

I use it occasionally if it seems applicable. I think some people use Yiddish words without realizing that the words are Yiddish. I wonder how many people who use the word schmuck know where it comes from.

My parents spoke Yiddish when they did not want me and my brother to understand what they were saying. When I studied German, I found that I could pick up on quite a bit that they said. Yiddish used to be the common language among Jews, but is dying out rather quickly. English may become a kind of preserve for the language.

Oy, do I! I could plotz!

Yiddish and German share many words because both share Middle High German as a common ancestor.

I’ll tell people they’re meshugge, and I say Oy! a lot. Ther’es a few other phrases and words I’m sure I use, but I can’t recall them at the moment.

L’Shana Tovah, everyone!

@Zen- אני לא. רימיתי עם מתרגם התוכנית שלי.

I schlep across town to work on a daily basis, and I leave covered in schmutz from when the kids rest their keppelahs on my shoulder and wipe their noses. Oy!

@AstroChuck and @Zen I understood it all until Astrochuck’s last remark. Could one of you translate it for me? I, too, am surprised at the little mailman’s command of ivrit.

As far as Yiddish goes, I would be ferblundget if I couldn’t kvetch a bissel from time to time.

I use a lot of Yiddish words or phrases in my everyday speaking which confuses a lot of people around me as Yiddish is not used as often in the UK as it is in the States from what I can gather. This is great when I want to offend someone without them really knowing what I mean!!!

@janbb The dastardly yet ingenius @AstroChuck said, “I don’t (speak Hebrew). I cheated with the translator.”

Brilliant!

@Leanne1986 You can practice here.

@Zen A most clever 6 year old indeed. Thanks!

@janbb Feel free to get lost in translation and kvetch all you want here, not just a bissele. I’ll leave the light on in this question for you to kvetch or kvell al you need. Ok?

@Zen- You told!
Tattle-tale.

@AstroChuck—You should’ve Pmed me that it was a secret. Besides, everyone uses “translator” – like me.

;-)

I’m so faklempt.

@AstroChuck Lurvski.

Which translator program did you use?

@janbb Moi? Or Chuck? If you mean me, I use the one in my head.

Ah, Chuckie then.

(Todah rabah)

@janbb Bevakasha. Matay sherak tirze. Tavo kol yom.