Yinglish

This article is about English words in Yiddish. For the opposite, see Yiddish words used by English-speaking Jews.

Yinglish words are neologisms created by speakers of Yiddish in English-speaking countries, sometimes to describe things that were uncommon in the old country. This is the meaning of the term used by Leo Rosten in The Joys of Yiddish.

Leo Rosten's The Joys of Yiddish^[1] uses the words Yinglish and Ameridish to describe new words, or new meanings of existing Yiddish words, created by English-speaking persons with some knowledge of Yiddish. (The fact that donstairsiker is listed as Ameridish and its opposite opstairsiker is listed as Yinglish, coupled with the fact that no Yinglish word is suggested in The Joys of Yiddish to have arisen outside the United States of America, suggests that Ameridish and Yinglish are synonyms.)

Leo Rosten defines "Yinglish" as "Yiddish words that are used in colloquial English" (such as kibitzer)^[2] and Ameridish as words coined by Jews in the United States.^[3] Following this definitions, this article is about Ameridish, and Yiddish words used by English-speaking Jews is about what Rosten defines as Yinglish; his use, however, is inconsistent with his own definitions.^[4]

The Joys of Yiddish describes the following words as Yinglish except where noted as Ameridish:

• alrightnik, alrightnikeh, alrightnitseh – male, female, female individual who has been successful; nouveau riche^[5]
• blintz (Yinglish because the true Yiddish is blintzeh)^[6]
• bleib shver  – from German bleibt schwer, meaning remains difficult - unresolved problem, especially in Talmud learning
• bluffer, blufferkeh – male, female person who bluffs^[7]
• boarderkeh, bordekeh – (Ameridish) female paying boarder^[8]
• boychick, boychikel, boychiklekh - young boy, kiddo, handsome^[9]
• bulbenik (Ameridish) – an actor who muffs his lines, from bilbul - mixup (alternative theory - bulba, literally potato, figuratively error))^[10]
• bummerkeh (Ameridish) – a female bum
• cockamamy false, ersatz, crazy (of an idea), artificial, jury-rigged (prob. from Eng. "decalcomania," a "decal," a sticker, a cheap process for transferring images from paper to glass.) In the Bronx, 1^st half 20^th century, a "cockamamie" was a washable temporary "tattoo" distributed in bubblegum packets.
• donstairsikeh, donstairsiker – female, male living downstairs
• dresske – bargain-basement dress
• fin – five, or five-dollar bill, shortened form of Yiddish finif (five)
• kosher – Yinglish, not in its religious or Yiddish meanings, but only in five slang senses: authentic, trustworthy, legitimate, fair, and approved by a higher source. Its pronunciation, as "kōsher", is another distinguishing factor, as in true Yiddish it is pronounced "kūsher" or "kösher"
• mensch - a person of uncommon maturity and decency^[11]
• nextdoorekeh, nextdooreker – female, male living next door
• opstairsikeh, opstairsiker (Ameridish) – female, male living upstairs
• pisha paysha – corruption of English card game Pitch and Patience
• sharopnikel (Ameridish) – a small object that causes quieting, such as a pacifier, teething ring
• shmegegge (Ameridish) – an unadmirable or untalented person
• shnuk (Ameridish) - an idiotic person
• singlemon – single man
• shmo - shortened version of 'shmock' or 'shmearal', see 'shnuk'
• T.L. – tuches lecker or ass-kisser (literally, one who licks buttocks)
• tararam - a big tummel

See also

• Scots-Yiddish
• Denglisch
• Ashkenazi Hebrew
• The Joys of Yiddish
• Coffee Talk

References

1. ^ Rosten, Leo. The Joys of Yiddish, Pocket Books/Washington Square Press, 1970 (first edition 1968). ISBN 0-671-72813-X
2. ^ Rosten, op. cit., p. ix.
3. ^ Rosten, op. cit., p. x.
4. ^ According to his definition in page x, alrightnik should be Ameridish; however on page 12 it is defined as Yinglish.
5. ^ Rosten, op. cit., p. 12.
6. ^ Rosten, op. cit., p. 42.
7. ^ Rosten, op. cit., p. 43.
8. ^ Rosten, op. cit., p. 44.
9. ^ Rosten, op. cit., p. 49.
10. ^ Rosten, op. cit., p. 56.
11. ^ Steven Pinker, The Stuff of Thought - Language as a Window into Human Nature, Viking, 2007, ISBN 9780670063277.

External links

• A nice list of choice Yiddish/Ameridish words,
• Yiddishpeda - A wiki based website which aims to become a Yiddish/Yinglish word and phrase directory.