And YALP

[gnomi]

[Poll #931534]

Comments

[glishara.livejournal.com]

I cannot distinguish between the "o" in Josh and the "a" in father! But I pronounce "nosh" like it.

[byrne.livejournal.com]

Exactly what I was going to say. They all sound the same to me.

Also, Nomi, I had no idea that nosh was Yiddish, but I also have no idea what I'd thought it was. :D It just *is*.

[madfilkentist]

I've encountered "nosh" as a verb but not as a noun.

The "a" in "father" and the "o" in "Josh" are clearly distinct to me.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Father and Josh sound nnd feel distinctly different to me, and nosh definitely rhymes with Josh.

[saxikath]

I can't figure out if "father" and "Josh" are different. They're certainly very close.

[tober.livejournal.com]

I'm unclear on whether narfs are in fact edible...

[chaos-wrangler.livejournal.com]

I'm more used to nosh as a verb, but as someone who frequently verbs nouns and nounifies verbs, "a nosh" immediately parses as the that which one noshes.

I checked all but nuts as (potentially) constituting a good nosh, but that's because I don't like nuts and therefore don't think of them as a food to have.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Also, Nomi, I had no idea that nosh was Yiddish, but I also have no idea what I'd thought it was. :D It just *is*.

Heh. See, I think of it as a Yiddishism, which is why I queried whether it would be in N's idiolect. But since you knew it (not just J, who has the whole NY/NJ language influence thing going on, and thus is more Yiddish influenced than many), I figured it was more widespread than just those of us who were steeped in Yiddish.

One of these days, I'll have to do a "which of these Yiddish words do you consider English" poll.

[tapuz.livejournal.com]

I also went with the "narf!s aren't edible" route.

My question is more... "good nosh"??? what, then is a "bad nosh"??? :-)

[abbasegal.livejournal.com]

OK, for me, both the o in Josh and the a in Father are the IPA /a/. (I might have a bit of rounding for "Josh", but that comes from the "J" and doesn't really affect the vowel, but anyway I voted for the "a").

How do people with a clear distinction between these two vowels pronounce them?

[eal.livejournal.com]

Heh.

So long as you mean real cookies and not B cookies -- I think we're noshing. If you're talking B cookies, we're having breakfast :).

[chaos-wrangler.livejournal.com]

On further reflection, it's not that "nosh" isn't usually a noun for me, it's that it's generally a mass noun: "let's get some nosh", "they had lots of nosh", etc. rather than "a nosh".

[joecoustic.livejournal.com]

I too found almost no difference between the "o" and the "a" but since it seemed to rhyme with "Josh" I chose that one :). I wonder if it's another one of those midwestern things (like Mary, marry, and merry) where we just let everything sound the same?

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

Not only do "Josh" and "father" have the same vowel sound, so does "Narf!" (No, not really, it's a syllabic /r/, but I had to say it.... :-)

[tygerseye.livejournal.com]

"Narf" is not a good nosh, but I had to check it anyway.

And I think of "nosh" as a snack, the fact that it's Yiddish is secondary. :D

open your mouth and say...

[violetcheetah.livejournal.com]

i can tell no difference between the vowel in josh and father, either.

[lonfiction.livejournal.com]

Ditto all.

Also FWIW, I've never associated nosh with any particular group or culture.

[cellio]

When nosh is a verb, any food goes with. If nosh is a noun, my mental context is stuff you put out for guests, so nice food than just a bag of chips.

I have no idea why I have this impression.

[readsalot.livejournal.com]

Me three (about "Josh" and "father" having the same first vowel). I've known it was Yiddish since I knew what Yiddish was.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

For me, the O in "Josh" is the O in "fog" or "frog" or "dog." The A in "father" is pronounced as if the F had a patach under it.

[chaos-wrangler.livejournal.com]

Interesting set of words: for me "dog" is the odd one out, with "fog" & "frog" matching "father" (and "Josh").

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Odd -- for me, "father" and "Narf!" have the same vowel sound, with "Josh" having a completely different vowel.

[zsero.livejournal.com]

I think of נאַש in Yiddish (note the patach) as meaning snack food, stuff one nashes on. Oh, and in English I spell it "nash", or even "nush" if I'm writing for an audience that pronounces 'u' with a patach and 'o' with a komatz. As I understand it, the American usage is much the same as the Yiddih one.

But I'm aware of the British usage, which is pronounced "nosh" with a komatz, and means "food", specifically real food rather than junk. And in which a "nosh-up" is a really nice meal. Just one of the ways in which American and English took the same Yiddish word and went in different directions with it.