Pbenjay's Blog

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.

1. Oy Vey –  Is an expression expressing exasperation, dismay or grief.
2. 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.
3. Maven –  An expert, often used sarcastically.
4. Chutzpah –  In Yiddish this denotes arrogance and nervy presumption and is NOT a compliment.  In English, it is used to convey courage and confidence.
5. Klutz –  Literally means block of wood so it is used when to describe a dense or clumsy person.
6. Bubbe –  We all have one – a Grandmother.
7. Schlep –  To drag something around, most likely something you don’t need or are doing unwillingly.
8. Nosh –  To nibble a light snack – like what we eat when we play Mah Jongg.
9. 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.
10. Mazel-Tov – Literally good luck and used to convey good wishes for what just happened, not a hopeful wish for some future event.

Shmendrick

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