tzikeh | Oy vey iz mir, I'm so meshugenah I could plotz.

A discussion about New York bagels and the term "schmear" meaning "a thick layer of cream cheese" turned into a discussion of the impact a specific subculture can have on the dominant language. Since those kind of thoughts tend to stick around in my particular brand of brain, that led to this poll.

Poll #9501 Oy vey iz mir, I

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 186

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I was raised Jewish/culturally Jewish, and I have used the following Yiddish words in conversation:

View Answers

bubbeleh
19 (50.0%)

bubkes/bupkis
23 (60.5%)

chutzpah
37 (97.4%)

dreck
29 (76.3%)

farklempt/verklempt
21 (55.3%)

farkakte
10 (26.3%)

feh
25 (65.8%)

kibitz (not to be confused with "kibbutz")
27 (71.1%)

kitsch
33 (86.8%)

klutz
38 (100.0%)

kvell
20 (52.6%)

l'chaim
28 (73.7%)

maven
20 (52.6%)

mazel tov
34 (89.5%)

mensch
34 (89.5%)

meshugenah
25 (65.8%)

mishegoss
20 (52.6%)

nebbish
20 (52.6%)

nosh
30 (78.9%)

nudnik
16 (42.1%)

oy and/or variants (oy vey / oy gevalt / oy vey iz mir)
35 (92.1%)

plotz
16 (42.1%)

putz
27 (71.1%)

schlepp
35 (92.1%)

schlock
24 (63.2%)

schlong
20 (52.6%)

schlub
18 (47.4%)

schmaltz
28 (73.7%)

schmear
28 (73.7%)

schmo
19 (50.0%)

schmuck
34 (89.5%)

schmutz
25 (65.8%)

schnook
8 (21.1%)

schtick
28 (73.7%)

schvitz
10 (26.3%)

schmatte
16 (42.1%)

shmooze
33 (86.8%)

shpiel
32 (84.2%)

tchotchke (pronounced "chahch-key")
35 (92.1%)

trayfe
20 (52.6%)

tsuris
16 (42.1%)

tuchus
24 (63.2%)

yenta
25 (65.8%)

zaftig
23 (60.5%)

I was NOT raised Jewish/culturally Jewish, and I have used the following Yiddish words in conversation:

View Answers

bubbeleh
29 (19.6%)

bubkes/bupkis
83 (56.1%)

chutzpah
126 (85.1%)

dreck
101 (68.2%)

farklempt/verklempt
83 (56.1%)

farkakte
16 (10.8%)

feh
75 (50.7%)

kibitz (not to be confused with "kibbutz")
85 (57.4%)

kitsch
127 (85.8%)

klutz
136 (91.9%)

kvell
21 (14.2%)

l'chaim
51 (34.5%)

maven
57 (38.5%)

mazel tov
95 (64.2%)

mensch
69 (46.6%)

meshugenah
42 (28.4%)

mishegoss
18 (12.2%)

nebbish
51 (34.5%)

nosh
74 (50.0%)

nudnik
20 (13.5%)

oy and/or variants (oy vey / oy gevalt / oy vey iz mir)
120 (81.1%)

plotz
37 (25.0%)

putz
99 (66.9%)

schlepp
124 (83.8%)

schlock
75 (50.7%)

schlong
72 (48.6%)

schlub
56 (37.8%)

schmaltz
102 (68.9%)

schmear
66 (44.6%)

schmo
40 (27.0%)

schmuck
127 (85.8%)

schmutz
62 (41.9%)

schnook
20 (13.5%)

schtick
90 (60.8%)

schvitz
15 (10.1%)

schmatte
11 (7.4%)

shmooze
112 (75.7%)

shpiel
101 (68.2%)

tchotchke (pronounced "chahch-key")
115 (77.7%)

trayfe
21 (14.2%)

tsuris
15 (10.1%)

tuchus
54 (36.5%)

yenta
92 (62.2%)

zaftig
74 (50.0%)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

cathexys

This was really hard, because I had to think of the terms that are just German to me and those I know I pulled from Yiddish in English.

Something like kitsch, for example, I wouldn't be sure of how it entered English...

From:

tzikeh

I would imagine they would enter English just like all the other words--enough Jewish people used it in conversation that it was absorbed. Why would kitsch be different from, say, shmooze?

From:

cathexys

Because afaik, it's a German and not a Yiddish loan word that entered English use via aesthetic and art movements after becoming popularized in German in the early 20th century.

There are other words, that may come into English via Yiddish but have continued to be used in German (sometimes with the same, sometimes with an entirely different meaning). So *for me*, I often can't say whether I use verklempt, because it's a word in my native language or one i've picked up as an English expression. And when I say Schmuck and Mensch, I mean different things whether I say them as German words or as Yiddish into English loan words.

From:

tzikeh

Kitsch is a word in Yiddish as well as German, meaning the same thing, and most likely came to prominence in America from Jewish immigrants, rather than from the art world. Loan words tend to come to prominence through usage by the working and business classes, not the elite or academic classes.

From:

frogspace.livejournal.com

And when I say Schmuck and Mensch, I mean different things whether I say them as German words or as Yiddish into English loan words.

Huh. That would explain why I can't make sense of them when I encounter them in English. Schmuck=jewelry and Mensch=human. What do schmuck and mensch mean?

From:

tzikeh

"Schmuck" is a Yiddish slang term for penis--so literally "What a schmuck" is "what a dick." But it isn't necessarily literal; basically it means an obnoxious, awful person.

"Mensch" is literally "human," as you say, but the flavor in Yiddish is "a good guy." For example, if a guy was willing to leave his house on a snowy Saturday to help me shovel my drive, I'd say he was a real mensch.

From:

frogspace.livejournal.com

Thank you for the explanation! :)

From:

brownbetty

I was going to say, some of those words I'm pretty sure I picked up from the local mennonite enclave, although some of those are standard English vocabulary, to me.

From:

waldo

Just as a point of interest, "maven" appears in a particular 4th grade reading basal as a vocabulary word. So it may be a little more 'for the goys' than other terms. ;)

From:

tzikeh

Sure - but it is a Yiddish word that made its way into English, so it counts. :D

From:

devohoneybee

... and derives from the hebrew, "maveen", meaning "understand." a maven is one who understands.

From:

tzikeh

Yes.

From:

lys

I had no idea so many of the words I use were originally yiddish!!

From:

pocketmouse

I answered it as 'words I use regularly.' There might have been 3 or 4 more that I have used in my life, and I recognize and have seen used about a dozen more, but I put down the ones I've used more than 2 or 3 times.

From:

musesfool

I've used most of the terms on the list fairly often, but I was born and raised in NYC so I'm pretty sure that's to be expected.

From:

tzikeh

Yeah - one of my theories is that, since many of these words have become part of most New Yorkers' vocabularies, they've spread from there moreso than from any Jewish enclaves around the rest of the U.S. As for Europe, I don't know enough migration history to formulate any theories.

From:

miss_pryss

That's an interesting theory. I was going to comment with a similar note to musesfool - I've lived in NYC for nearly fifteen years, so despite not being Jewish in any sense, I've heard all of those words and use most of them at least here and there.

I wonder if NYC was, like, heavily Armenian or something, instead of Jewish, if you'd see a similar linguistic distribution...

From:

miss_pryss

Not that those two are equivalent, really. Finding an ethnic/religious group (at least in the US) whose cultural position is at all comparable to the American Jewish diaspora is a tall order.

From:

giglet

I can trace at least some of these words back to musicals and Jewish science fiction (especially "Wandering Stars"). Otherwise, they didn't come up in the Hispanic/Southern household of my youth.

From:

klia

I'm pretty sure most of the Yiddish words I've picked up over the years can be traced to one person: Mel Brooks.

From:

bailunrui

Mel Brooks and The Nanny account for most of my Jewish language skills.

From:

bailunrui

I chose only words that I've used and not words that I know. Born and raised in MD and I'm not Jewish.

From:

tzikeh

Yup -that's what the poll asks for - "I have used the following Yiddish words in conversation." :D

From:

misspamela

For clarification, I say "mazel tov" regularly to Jewish friends, but wouldn't to anyone else.

My (extended) family is in the NY/NJ area and they regularly use a lot of these words and it's not odd at all. Where I live? Not so much.

From:

chalcopyrite

It's a good thing polls allow editing. I think I now have it down to only words I have actually used -- though, since much of my conversation occurs within the confines of my own head, I am counting that. Hope that's ok. *wry g*

From:

harpers_child

i answered on the "not jewish" list, but there's a strong arguement that my father's mother's side of the family was about five generations back. the use of yiddish and certain foods being the bulk of evidence.

From:

azhdragon

I picked up much of my Yiddish vocabulary through two separate but interesting circumstances:

1) I worked for a year in a market selling fabric for/with a Jewish man, and he and his stall-holder friends often spoke a patois of Yiddish and English. (I picked up a bit of Russian vocab the same way working for two Russian brothers in the same market the following year).

2) I worked at a university in the history department, which included a centre for the study of Jewish Civilisation. This was a very interesting job.

so it's more than possible that I use more Yiddish words than would otherwise be the case for someone non-Jewish in Australia.

From:

ladysorka

I didn't grow up in New York or anywhere near the New York area, and the nearest Temple to the town I grew up in was over 60 miles away. However, I did grow up in an area that, as of my grandparent's generation, still had a lot of native German speakers - my grandfather and my few remaining great-aunts and great-uncles still occasionally speak German amongst themselves. And with a few of the words I use regularly, I don't know if the cross-pollination comes more from that, or not.

Edited Date: 2012-02-13 01:23 am (UTC)

From:

gelasius

On the "not Jewish" list...I'd say the majority of those terms I got from my (W.A.S.P., west-coast-raised) parents; the rest I picked up from living in NYC for eight years with a lot of Jewish friends (trayfe, zaftig, nudnik, mishugenah, mishegoss...).

From:

chipuni

Although he's not Jewish, my father grew up in NYC and my mother lived in NYC for many years.

I'm not Jewish either, but I lived in New Jersey until I was 12. Then I moved to South Florida, which is almost as Jewish as New York.

So I've picked up a LOT of Yiddish expressions from my parents and my background.

From:

ellen_fremedon

I checked the (very few) words that I grew up using. There are a lot of words on the list that I learned in adulthood and adopted because they are useful, but that are not at all part of my native idiom.

Edited Date: 2012-02-13 03:02 am (UTC)

From:

mermaid

This is so fascinating. I'm from New Zealand, where the Jewish population is tiny and not very culturally visible. My only personal connection is the fact I once dated a Jewish guy (who emigrated as a child from Israel, and spoke Hebrew rather than Yiddish).

But I've watched a lot of TV shows set in New York, and I suspect I picked up quite a few of these words that way. And now I'm in a fandom (Hawaii Five-0) featuring a character from Jersey who uses some Yiddish vocab, so there are even more words that I've written in fic but not used in conversation.

From:

zdenka

I would also find it interesting to know how many of those words people could understand, though not use. I can see the use of Yiddish diminishing in my family down the generations, and there are many Yiddish words used by my mother or grandmother that I understand but wouldn't naturally use myself.

From:

starpaint

Can't speak for anyone else, but two generations down, I understand almost everything on the list (and this despite the fact that my grandparents all died when I was pretty young, so I picked up most of it second-hand. Then again, in the New York Jewish community, there's a lot of positive reinforcement...)

From:

seekergeek

Wow. Not Jewish and not have not lived anywhere near New York, but I've used most of this list in conversation. Oy, and here I thought I knew bupkis about Yiddish.

From:

lapislaz

My mom's step-father was Jewish, and she picked up the vocabulary as a kid. She passed it along to all of her kids, even though she was not raised Jewish and we didn't live in a Jewish neighborhood. In fact, I never met him - he disappeared when I was a baby and wasn't located until shortly before he died, a few years ago. (It's definitely the family scandal.)

From:

kelliem

I am not Jewish nor is anyone in my family, we're all from Texas originally and I've never lived anywhere further east than Chicago, I currently live in Colorado, but I use about 80% of those words on a regular basis. Interesting.

From:

roguecarbon

felt like i should note that even though i'm not jewish and wasn't raised culturally jewish, a handful of my family members were or grew up in a part of long island with a significant jewish population.

as a note, i notice i've definitely used yiddish-origin words less often since i've moved to north carolina. there've been a couple instances where my partner (originally from rural north carolina) or their (very southern) family have been perplexed when i've said some of these words (i can particularly remember "spiel" and "schmutz" causing quite a bit of confusion, which surprised me, because i always thought they were common words to know).