TEN TIPS THURSDAY
If you live in New York City, these word are already in your vocabulary! However, sometimes even I forget there’s a world out there that doesn’t just toss out Yiddish words in their everyday conversations – BUT everyone can…it’s not like dropping French phrases which might make you seem pretentious – you know like with sangfroid!
With a little practice, these words will be rolling off your tongue in no time.
- Oy Vey – Is an expression expressing exasperation, dismay or grief.
- Kvetsh – Most often used in English to mean complain, but in Yiddish it literally means to squeeze or press like if your shoes were too tight.
- Maven – An expert, often used sarcastically.
- Chutzpah – In Yiddish this denotes arrogance and nervy presumption and is NOT a compliment. In English, it is used to convey courage and confidence.
- Klutz – Literally means block of wood so it is used when to describe a dense or clumsy person.
- Bubbe – We all have one – a Grandmother.
- Schlep – To drag something around, most likely something you don’t need or are doing unwillingly.
- Nosh – To nibble a light snack – like what we eat when we play Mah Jongg.
- Kibbitz – This doesn’t translate easily; the word is similar to Kibbutz, a collective community or it can refer to verbal joking. The English innovation is giving unwanted advice about someone else’s game.
- Mazel-Tov – Literally good luck and used to convey good wishes for what just happened, not a hopeful wish for some future event.
Shmendrick
Bill Ding and his band of clowns are the security patrol for this blog site. He is a favorite toy from the 50*s. By the way sometimes a blog is just an ego-maniacal stream of conscience.
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