Need help with Yiddish translation please

Hi Andy, I bet I'm down the street from you.

Mainly bumping this up, but gutten hemmel means God in Heaven. Shane or sheyne is pretty (might also be handsome, but don't hold me to that). You might have heard kin when it was really kindeh, which means child. So the second sentence seems to mean, "God in heaven, such a pretty child."

Not sure of the first one but pipic (it's really pipik) means belly button.

Thank you SO much!

"Gutten hemmel" means "good heaven". (The high German colloquial "Guter Himmel" is still often used.)

Chayim Pipik is a funny semi-derogatory nickname (along with Moishe Pipik). To call someone either a “Moishe Pupik” in Yiddish is to accuse him of being aggravatingly or comically self-important.

"The derogatory, joking nonsense name that translates literally to Moses Bellybutton and that probably connoted something slightly different to every Jewish family on our block — the little guy who wants to be a big shot, the kid who pisses in his pants, the someone who is a bit ridiculous, a bit funny, a bit childish."

"Oh, God in Heaven! Such a beautiful or handsome child.

Thank you VERY much! Then what does "damimmel lamed" mean? And why did My Dad say that when we asked him what time it was?

You're very welcome.

This is as far as I can get you (dammimel, I'm lost on):

"Lamed Vovnik: "One of the 36." Jewish tradition has it that the world is allowed to exist due to the merits of 36 living individuals. No one knows who they are, so it is incumbent upon us to treat everyone- no matter how insignificant they may seem to us- as one of these 36. One is called a "Lamed Vovnik" if their actions are so pious as to make it obvious that they must be one of the 36."

I'll be reading a liberal translation....and it's most likely wrong...so take it with a grain of Kosher salt...

He could have been saying to you....feigning annoyance for being asked what time it is... "Am I the most important one..(e.g. keeper of the time)?"

More than likely..because you asked about the time....back to the self-importance them. as I think about this it could be..."why ask about the time ? Are you so important that you have an appointment to keep?"

Wow, thats so interesting. Thank you again. Looking forward to if anyone else may have any insight as well.

I'm always surprised when I get the Anglicization of an originally slightly different meaning. (Got is 'God' in our Yiddish, gut(t) is good, both from the German Gott and gut.)

Chayim Pipik, damimel lamed"


This combination could be translated ...saying...."Silly childish one (mockingly) .. one of the special 36."

Yes, of course, you're right. I was being liberal and reading more into it than was there. The Yiddish phrase that I used to hear it most often as "Oy, Got (God) in Himl..(Heaven)." But it could have easily been "Gut Himl"... "Good Heaven!"

My parental grandfather was nearly fluent in Yiddish, taught my father (when he was a child) a bit, my father awoke my interest in this language ...

You and Jes were correct with the God in Heaven interpretation.

Yes, understood.

My goal was to reply with spreit of the phrase as I heard it...not the clinical or literal word-for-word. whereas, Walter was going for word-for-word German to English, ...(guessing that's what he was doing).