Yiddish with Dick and Jane Read Free

Can also refer to a woman or a mixed group, e.g., “No way I’m going to the matinee. All the
alter kockers
will still be divvying up the lunch check halfway through the first act.” Often used in its abbreviated form,
A.K
.
    bren (bren) – A person of great vitality, charisma, and energy. From the verb
brennen
, “to burn.” Mnemonic hint: A good way to remember that
brennen
means “to burn” is to recall Walter Brennan, that fiery, smoldering, burning movie and TV actor who played fiery, smoldering Grandpa on
The Real McCoys
.
    bubbe (BUB-eh or BUB-bee or BOOH-beh or BOOH-bee) – Grandmother. Rhymes with . . . well, with something that sounds similar. Its diminutive,
boobeleh,
is a term of endearment or affection between spouses, of parents toward their children, or between showbiz people who are either being heavily ironic or are unaware of the fact that no one has used it in this way with a straight face since 1954.
    chachem (CHAW-chem) – A wise person (man or woman), a sage. To the question “How can you know a person is wise unless you yourself are wise enough to recognize their wisdom?” we say, Don’t ask.
    chaver (CHAH-ver) – A guy’s best pal. Friend, chum.
    dreck (drek) – Literally, excrement or dung. Something-—merchandise, a work of art, etc.—-that’s cheap, lousy, meretricious junk (i.e., even worse than
schlock
). “We saw their new house. Believe me, the furnishings are strictly from Dreck Barn.”
    emess (EH-mess) – The real, unvarnished, unmitigated truth, with claims to objectivity or universal validity, e.g., “You want the
emess?
They’ll never get divorced. They hate each other too much.”
    es gezunterheyt (ESS geh-ZOONT-er-HATE)– Literally, “Eat in good health,” meaning, Enjoy!
    fancy-schmancy (fancy-SHMAN-see) – Pretentiously fancy, although when Betty says it she’s mocking, lightly, her own potential pretentiousness. The addition of
schm-
to the beginning of a word is also a popular way to minimize the subject as being relatively trivial or otherwise dismissable, compared to what you’re about to say. E.g., “Emmy schmemmy, the show stinks.”
    farblondget (far-BLUN-jet)–Lost, confused, wandering around, wildly astray. “I go to Starbucks for a lousy cup of coffee, I take one look at the grande this and vente that, with the macchiato and the caramel latte cream, I get totally
farblondjet
.”
    farmisht (far-MISHT)–Not “famished,” which isn’t even Yiddish (although, since it means “really, really hungry,” it could be a sort of honorary Yiddish), but rather, confused, addled, dysfunctional.
    farshadat (far-SHAH-det)–Pained, wounded. One of us (E.W.) heard Cindy Lauper use this in an interview!
    fartootst (far-TOOTS’T, rhymes with “car foots’d,” although also can be said “fah-TOOTS’T”) – Disoriented, confused, distracted. In this case, Jane is more the latter—more
fartootst
than
oysgeshpilt.
    feh (feh) – Expression of distaste or disgust. We know someone who, when asked if he had dogs or cats as pets when he was growing up, replied, “Never. My mother used to say, ‘Animals in the house?
Feh!
’”
    fressing (FRESS-ing)–A Yiddish word
(fress)
with an English suffix.
Fress
means to eat heartily, to eat a lot, to eat indelicately or wolf one’s food. You
    nosh
for fun and recreation and to be sociable. You
ess
when you’re hungry. You
fress
because you’re a big fat pig.
    freylech (FRY-lich)–Happy, cheerful, upbeat. Used more to describe a general personality trait than a specific response—and usually concerns the behavior of others rather than one’s own mood. “Prozac schmozac, at least she’s more
freylech
now (
kinahora
).”
    goniff (GAHN-iff) – A thief, a crook. Older generations have also used it admiringly, to mean rascal, but its main usage has narrowed down to something plainly derogatory. For this reason one hardly ever hears Robin Hood referred to anymore as “that
goniff.
”
    gornisht