Erev Shabbat Jewish Blogging

[gnomi]

Sort of an odd one today. cshiley has asked for a list of Hebrew/Yiddish things that a "very very old" Jewish man might use in regular conversation. I've come up with some, but I'm wondering if anyone has more to contribute. My list (with translations and examples) is:

-- Oy (and/or "oy vey")
-- Gevalt (paired with "oy" or not)
-- Shvitz (to sweat) (as in, "It's too hot in here. I'm shvitzing like nobody's business)
-- Schlep (literally, to drag; used to mean "to drag oneself [a far distance]" but can be both a verb and a noun) (as in, "I don't want to go there; it's too far a schlep" or "Do you really want me to schlep that big rock up that hill?")

But that's just off the top of my head.

Anyone else have suggestions?

Comments

[pisicutsa.livejournal.com]

Should I worry that those are all phrases I use myself all the time? (And last I checked I was not a very very old jewish man). :)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Meshuggeh/meshugganeh? Schlemazel?

[magid.livejournal.com]

Nebbech?

[gingicat]

Meshugge (crazy - also meshuggener, crazy person)
Schlemiel (someone who can't do anything right)
(alas) shvartze (black person)
klutz

Wish I could remember more from my summer working with people in that demographic.

[gingicat]

Nebbish, you mean? (Similar to schlemiel, but more so?)

Oh, and also gonif (thief).

[gingicat]

Oh, and schmutz (soot, dirt), tchotchkes (bricabrac), chazzarai (random cruft).

[kradical.livejournal.com]

Momzer, in situations where folks less ept with Yiddish would use "bastard."

Feh is always useful.

Kvetch, meaning to complain.

(Just gave you a whole sentence there: "That momzer, he's always kvetching about something -- feh.")

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Nebbech and Nebbish are two different people. The Nebbech is the guy everything happens to (even moreso than the shlemazel). The Nebbish is the guy who is timid and weak.

A nebbech is kind of like the shlemazel, but different. As Judaism 101 (http://www.jewfaq.org/yiddish.htm) explains:

What other language distinguishes between a shlemiel (a person who suffers due to his own poor choices or actions), a shlimazl (a person who suffers through no fault of his own) and a nebech (a person who suffers because he makes other people's problems his own). An old joke explains the distinction: a shlemiel spills his soup, it falls on the shlimazl, and the nebech cleans it up!

[tikvah.livejournal.com]

Plotz - to burst (with joy, with rage, etc)
Schmattah - rag
Schmuck - dick/prick (body part OR jerk)
Zaftig - voluptuous, large-bodied
Chutzpah - moxie/brass gonads, Jewish-style
Mishpochah - family
Nu - I know how it's used, you probably do as well, but a translation??
Oy Vey Iz Mir (oh woe is me)
Noodnik - annoying person
Putz - similar to schmuck, but implies more stupidity

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Nu - I know how it's used, you probably do as well, but a translation??

I'd have to say "interrogative 'so'" (well, because I like the word "interrogative"). As in, "So? Is there any news?"

Of course, that doesn't explain the fact that "So, nu?" is a perfectly acceptable construct. :-)

[kuroshii.livejournal.com]

Shmutz, tchotchkes, shlep, chutzpah and kvetch are so commonly used in (parts of) Noo Yawk that growing up they were just "words with foreign origin" to me, used by everybody. I didn't learn they were actual Hebrew/Yiddish until around junior/high school.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Technically, schmutz is dirt of unknown origin, so soot wouldn't be schmutz. (That's not how many people use it, however.)

[gingicat]

Oh, and how could I forget "noodge", given recent LJ events? :)

(N., an annoying person who keeps bothering you to do something you already know about
V., to bother someone constantly, in a nagging manner)

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

... arib used all of these last weekend!

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

Awesome, I already knew half of these. Thanks all! I really appreciate it!

(goes off to type up a cheat sheet)

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Alter kocker = old guy, old fart
A bissel = a little bit
Bubkes = nothing, jack-squat nothing
Tchotchke = knickknack
Mensch = a good person
Kvell = extreme pride in something, usually your kid :-}
Naches = joy
Shanda = a shame
Tsuris = trouble, woes
Tuchis = butt
Farkockte = shitty, fucked up

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

"Don't hoch my kishkes! I'll do it already!"

Literally, "Don't chop up my insides!" It means, basically, leave me alone. I use this phrase regularly and I'm not an old Jewish man. I just play one on TV. Or something.

[donovanstitch.livejournal.com]

Many of the ones mentioned thus far are too mainstream and borderline inauthentic for the voice of an elderly person, I think. My votes:

"Shoyn fergessen" (I already forgot)
"Oy a'bruch!" (like oy vey, but more bitter)

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Hock mir a chinek (driving me crazy - lit., banging a pot on my head)