I have been thinking about Yiddish words for a while now and perused an old favorite book called The Taste of Yiddish, A Warm and Humorous Guide to a Fascinating Language written by Lillian Mermin Feinsilver. I wanted to remember and see the Yiddish words I grew up with in northwest Baltimore, a large Jewish Suburban Ghetto. My mother and father, first generation Americans, used Yiddish words first to keep my brother and I from understanding what they were saying. Then, after a while, they used Yiddish words to describe people, events and situations so that the meaning of the Yiddish words were gleaned from the exemplars used.
I have read and reread the stories of Shalom Alecheim and Isaac Bashevis Singer. Singer, with his mystical, heavenly and hellish worlds of people and Shalom Alecheim, known as the Yiddish Mark Twain with his cast of characters from the small Jewish shtetls and the poor but rich characters who inhabit these small towns. His are the stories of everyday woes, joys, trials, tribulations, sorrows, simchas, sufferings, and misunderstandings with a strong dose of Jewish irony. The Yiddish words I learned from these writers added a rich contextual layer of nuance and vocabulary to everyday language. It adds to the English language warmth, spice, humor, pathos, empathy and to quote a Yiddish word-tam or taste.
In my early teens, I heard my mother describe a friend of a distant relative as Moishe Kapoyr, which translates as Moses upside down which actually means he is the kind of person who falls on his back and breaks his nose. This particular person did manage to get most things wrong. She also described Adlai Stevenson who ran for President twice as a funfer - a person who talked up his sleeve - mumbled. A long time ago I told my father I hadn't paid the phone bill because I was mad at the phone company. He called me a chocham - wise person-a put down in a humorous way, that has an edge to it.
This past Passover I was invited to the second Seder and those invited were given the opportunity to be part of the seder - the story, songs, prayers, blessings, kiddushes, via a 25 page outline. We were invited, if we wanted, to add to the meaning of the Passover story. We could follow the outline or add something that we had read or had pondered, or had grown up with that we wanted to share. For many years I have wondered who those 2.4 million people were who wandered in the desert with Moses after leaving Egypt as slaves? The answer was obvious on a genetic level. They are us and we are them. But the reflection went further and I realized in order to make the wanderers real it would be good to give them personality traits. What better language than Yiddish could describe personalities so well? I lumped the types together sometimes at random, sometimes, because the words rhymed and sometimes because certain types hang with certain similar types.
I got out my favorite book, mentioned earlier, and made a list of the Yiddish words I had heard from friends and family. The briefest definitions will be given.
The farbrent [burning], ferlempt [tight jawed], kvetches [complainers], ungabluzzen [puffed up-note-pissed off], vainers [criers], farbisseners [embittered ones] and farkrimpt [frowners]
The klutzs [dumb clucks], fressers [eaters], shikkers [drunks], yentas [busybodies], shleppers [draggers], nudniks [pests], shrayers [yellers], kibitzers [sticking in your two cents worth], chazers [pigs], schnooks [fools] and Chayem Yankel [comic name for an unreliable character]
Schnorrers [those looking for something for nothing], kvellers [those who feel proud, especially of their children's accomplishments] and schvitzers [those who sweat], schmoozer [one who chews the rag-chats] ,fermished [mixed up], schlemiels, schlamazels [the schlemiels spill the hot tea and it lands on the schlamazel] luftmensch [airheads], farblunget [lost], schmutzes [dirty ones], ferdrayt kupps [ mixed up] and schmegegge [disoriented]
The fertootzed [overdressed], machers [deal makers] momser [bastard], ipsi-pipsi [very fancy], goniffs [thieves], schnook [sucker-fool] and gansa knocker [big shot]
The maziks [little trouble makers ], vilde chayas [wild animals], meshugenehs [crazy people] and tumelers [ones who liven things up]
The balabuste [a fine housekeeper], berya [a domestic marvel] and maven [connoisseur or expert]
I hope this short list invites you to reflect on hamish Yiddish vocabulary from your youth so that it can be passed on to the next generation. If you remember your family's special words - please - pass them on to me at cindyho@mcn.org .
© 2008 Cindy Mettika Hoffman
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Updated 04/30/2009 (rge)