The Business Owner's Guide to Yiddish

There's a book titled, "You Can't Do Business (Or Most Anything Else) Without Yiddish" by Leon H. Gildin. Whether you're working in the garment center, in show business, or in the fast food industry, the following Yiddish terms need to be understood:

Balebos	The boss in a factory, office, whatever, even in a family.
Bobkes	Zilch, nada, zip; your bonus for screw-ups.
Bubu	Mistake (insignificant) or insignificant. Ex. Edna K. Morris had a brief tenure at Red Lobster, a $2.4 billion restaurant chain. She left in 2003 after an all-you-can- eat promotion proved unprofitable at $22.99 a person.
Cheshbon	The bottom line; also, refers to a bill. " Vos iz der untershte shure?" means, "What is the bottom line?"
Computernik	(Yinglish) Someone who is mad about computers, large or small; an electronic nut. Some computerniks refer to laptop computers as "schleptops."
Chutzpa	Brazen gall. Imagine a small business opening on Dec. 30, 2004, and on January 1. 2005,advertising: SECOND YEAR OF OPERATION. That's chutzpa!
Esn	To eat. "Oysesn" means "eating out." Parents with kids are the biggest spenders in restaurants, and more than 40% of restaurant owners said they expected takeout business to increase next year.
Farputst	Dressed to kill; all dolled up. At a breakfast business meeting avoid those loud plaids. Fred Astaire wore them beautifully; so do horses in their blankets.
Gelt	Money. "Kostn a sakh gelt" means much money spent over an extended period of time. "Aroysgevorfn di gelt" means thrown away money.
Hokking me a tshynik	Nagging or badgering about something to the point of abuse. Ex. "OK, I'll buy you Apple's iPod digital music player! Stop hokking me a tshynik."
Handlin	To act; to deal; to trade; to bargain.
Kibitzer	A person who jokes or wise-cracks. Ex. Art Buchwald ("Beating Around the Bush") wrote about off-shore jobs: "This is the University Testing Institute. We want to have our student tests marked overseas. Would you recommend a country where we could send our multiple choice questions for scoring?"
	"Burma is famous for out-sourcing college exams. Their people can do it for 13 cents per hour. They have a contract to handle all the U. S. Social Security paperwork. We can also recommend Bangladesh who does all the tests for Harvard."
Konkurent Competitor	Ex. "Our 'konkurent' across the street started his Christmas/ Hanukkah sale so early that Santa wore white shorts.'
Kvetch	Complainer An alternate definition is someone who, when asked, "How's business?" tells you, usually at great length and in full detail.
Kredit-Kartl	Credit card For the first time, Americans used cards--credit, debit and others--to buy retail goods and services more often than they used cash or check [2003].
Macher	A man with contacts; a big wheel; an "operator." Ex. Google CEO, Eric Schmidt.
Mazel and a brocha	A handshake and a promise-- as security. Millions of dollars' worth of diamonds are bid on, sight unseen, or pass from dealer with only "mazel and a brocha."
Mazldik	Lucky; fortunate Opray Winfrey gave away 276 Pontiac G7's, worth upward of $7 million. The winners were "mazldik."
Mavin/meyvin	Connoisseur; expert
Mashuggah	Crazy.
Mechuleh	"Belly up"; bankrupt; kaput. If someone loses his business or home, he is said to be "mechuleh."
Mensch	Someone of admirable character; a human being in the finest sense of the word. In an obit for Jerry Orbach, he was described as "a real mensch."
Mishpokhe	Family Bank Leumi once ran an ad campaign that said, "You may have a friend at Chase Manhattan, but with us you have 'mishpokhe.'"
Mutshen zich	To sweat out a job.
Nebach	It's too bad, as in: "Nebach, Mr. Cohen's dry cleaning business went bankrupt."
Nomen	Name. The right name for a product or business is important. The top surveyed names for Wal-Mart's own brand of wine are: Chateau Traileur Parc, White Trashfindel, Big Red Gulp, Chef Boyardeaux, Grape Expectations, and Nasti Spumante. :-)
Oysgemutshet	Worked to death. Ex. During Black Friday the Wal- Mart employees were "oysgemutshet."
Saichel	Common sense; good sense. One should have the "saichel" to know that "a happy customer is a returning customer" and maintaining an existing customer is much easier an less expensive than trying to build a new one.
Schlemiel	Inept person. Dr. Kenneth Libo presented a lecture titled, "From Schlemiels To Big Deals: American Jews in Big Business."
Schmooze	A cozy kind of conversation that people of any ethnic background or nationality can enter into.
Shmutz	Dirt/filth. Ex. "This store is full of shmutz; your face is shmutsik--Read the ad for Wet Ones: "Out there lurks a world of unanticipated schmutz. Need we say more?"
Shlock	Shoddy; cheaply made, defective or fake article.
Shiker	Drunkard; intoxicated
Tchotchke	Ornament. According to Thomas J. McFeeley, it's "a useless putrid trinket, found all around the house, purchased by wives and girlfriends who saved 30 percent' because they were on sale, as opposed to Guy's math where it's 'spending 70 percent for a useless putrid trinket.'"
Tsores	Misery; troubles. Americans are experiencing "tsores" because of identity theft. Art Buchwald writes, "People pretending they are other people is one of the oldest scams of the human race, but it has never been more profitable than it is right now. At least your family knows who you are."
	"I'm not so sure. The joker with my credit card charged a mink coat to my account, and when the bill arrived home my wife wouldn't believe me that someone else bought the coat for his girlfriend." ("Beating Around the Bush")
Vort	Word. Grab the attention of prospects by using these powerful words: "Discover," "Breakthrough," "Facts," "New," and "TSVEY FARN PRAYZ FUN EYNEM" (Buy one, Get One FREE).
Yo	Yes. Set up a pattern of "yes" answers and you'll increase the chances that your prospects will say "yes" when you ask them to make a purchase.