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yiddish in the USA????

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paleobarbie
 
Reply Mon 12 Jan, 2004 02:47 pm
please take the poll

vote as many times as you need
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Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 4,356 • Replies: 28
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Lapsus Manus
 
  1  
Reply Mon 12 Jan, 2004 02:48 pm
Active vocabulary or passive?
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roger
 
  1  
Reply Mon 12 Jan, 2004 02:51 pm
Since you are both kind of new around her, you might want to talk a look at the Hebonics discussion.
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paleobarbie
 
  1  
Reply Mon 12 Jan, 2004 02:59 pm
thanks
very cool
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Dartagnan
 
  1  
Reply Mon 12 Jan, 2004 03:53 pm
Um, I don't think "finagle" is Yiddish, though my dictionary is a little vague on its derivation...
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McTag
 
  1  
Reply Mon 12 Jan, 2004 04:08 pm
What are you, CRAZY????

You didn't say what you wanted, not so as I could understand, anyway.

Am I a schlemiel?

Oh yes, I read it again. Didn't see the blue border, first time.
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Phoenix32890
 
  1  
Reply Mon 12 Jan, 2004 04:15 pm
Well waddya know? I always thought that "finagle" was a Yiddish word.

Then I came across this:

Quote:
fi·na·gle (fə-nā'gəl)

v. Informal., -gled, -gling, -gles.


v.tr.
To obtain or achieve by indirect, usually deceitful methods: finagle a day off from work.
To cheat; swindle: shady stockbrokers who finagle their clients out of fortunes.
v.intr.
To use crafty, deceitful methods.

[Probably from dialectal fainaigue, to cheat.]


Quote:
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Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Mon 12 Jan, 2004 04:38 pm
Actually, most of the noted words are Yiddish loanwords.
And sionce both Yiddish and English are Germanic languages, it's not surprising at all to find them here - and since Yiddish is short for yidish daytsh ('Jewish German'), there are even much more Yiddish loanwords in German :wink:
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McTag
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Jan, 2004 01:11 am
Walter,
On another thread it was said that the American word "dude" is from German dudenkopf = fool

Could you comment please, PM if you wish.
Sorry to butt in, folks.
I am a schmuck.

L'chaim!
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roger
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Jan, 2004 01:33 am
Nah!
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Phoenix32890
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Jan, 2004 05:10 am
McTag- I don't think that you are a schmuck. If you believe that you are, I would not publicize it, if I were you! Laughing

Quote:
schmuck also shmuck (shmŭk)
n. Slang.

A clumsy or stupid person; an oaf.

[Yiddish shmok, penis, fool, probably from Polish smok, serpent, tail.]


When I hear the word used, according to the tone of voice, it can be an extremely pejorative appellation.
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Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Jan, 2004 08:15 am
McTag

I don't know, from where the authors of the Concise got this information, but after having looked up some books in the university library, I only can conform the definitions already said on that thread : didn't find any 'Dudenkopf' at all, dummkopf that I am:wink:
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McTag
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Jan, 2004 08:21 am
Gosh Phoenix I would disagree with that dictionary: or at least offer an alternative

I think schmuck comes directly from the German Schmuck (same spelling, different pronunciation) which means jewellery and I think it is an ironic reference, just as the British refer to the "crown jewels" when talking about the wedding tackle.

However I could be wrong about that. It might be a Polish serpent.

Remember that old song (recorded by the Andrews Sisters?) "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen"?
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Phoenix32890
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Jan, 2004 08:29 am
All I know, is that it is a word that I have used, and have heard used from time to time,when I was REALLY pissed off. Here is another definition, from a glossary of Yiddish expressions:

Quote:
Shmuck- (taboo) Self made fool; obscene for penis; derisive term for a man.


That is how I understand the word.

And yes. I do remember the song! Very Happy
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Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Jan, 2004 08:44 am
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Rick d Israeli
 
  1  
Reply Thu 12 Feb, 2004 03:05 pm
Surprising how many Yiddish words there are in other languages! In English you have Yinglish (Yiddish words in the English language), with a subdivision in America, called Ameridish. Yinglish is for example 'bagel', 'mish-mash' and 'kibitzer'; Ameridish is for example 'schmegegge' and 'utz'. From the Dutch language I know that words like Mokum (other name for Amsterdam) en '(de) mazzel' (good luck) are derived from Yiddish. But I think Yiddish has had more influence in American society and language than in the (Western-) European societies / languages, for the number of Jews from Eastern Europe, of whom many spoke Yiddish, going to America was much higher than the Eastern European Jews going to Western-Europe. And then there was also the Holocaust (Shoah)...Oy (has 29 meanings)!
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rufio
 
  1  
Reply Thu 12 Feb, 2004 04:01 pm
Where's m'shuganah? Or schpiel?
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Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Thu 12 Feb, 2004 04:15 pm
Rick d'Israeli wrote:
But I think Yiddish has had more influence in American society and language than in the (Western-) European societies / languages, for the number of Jews from Eastern Europe, of whom many spoke Yiddish, going to America was much higher than the Eastern European Jews going to Western-Europe. And then there was also the Holocaust (Shoah)...Oy (has 29 meanings)!


The word "Yiddish" comes from "yidish daytsh," meaning "Jewish German" and is based on Middle German.
There are in German - especially in spoken, everyday German and in (local) dialects - more similarities than with most other languages :wink:

(Out of the five full university chairs on Yiddish worldwide, two are in Germany.)
0 Replies
 
Rick d Israeli
 
  1  
Reply Fri 13 Feb, 2004 01:48 pm
True, but Yiddish is more a language, it is also a culture, and from that point of view, Yiddish theatres, the sort of "Yiddish lifestyle", has had more influence in America I think than it has in Europe
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rufio
 
  1  
Reply Fri 13 Feb, 2004 08:12 pm
That's not all that surprising, since being a Yid in Germany was not real popular not all that long ago.
0 Replies
 
 

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