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*The Yiddish word for “bright smile” is “lofhtikhn shmeykhl.”
“Dos vort” means “the word.”
Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Syosset, New York
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Shown below are some fascinating new/old English and Yiddish words that you might wish to add to your vocabulary. Have (a) “bisl fraylakhs”--a bit of fun.
MARRIAGE
marriage lite
n. Mildly derogatory term for an unmarried couple who live together or a couple who have formed a civil union or similar partnership. They should read “What Would Judy Say? A Grown-Up Guide To Living Together With Benefits” by Judge Judy Shendlin. Her advice: “Beware the man who says, ‘What's the rush?' Beware the man who says, ‘It's just a piece of paper.' Beward the man with the hot, young personal trainer.'”
starter marriage
A short lived first marriage that ends in divorce with no kids, no property,
and no regrets. (The American Legion Magazine, August, 2002)
hybride
The woman in a mixed marriage. (Craig Wolfson)
marriage
Sacred relationship between a man and a woman, in which they promise
to love, honor an cherish one another, even after their body parts begin to
wrinkle, sag and cease to function properly. (Tom Carey, “The Marriage
Dictionary”)
hypergamy
The tendence of women to marry “upward.”
tragedy
A bride without a can opener.
altar ego Much married braggart. (Ann Tuck) And Jerry Seinfeld said, “I started having doubts when I heard the minister say, ‘Do you take this woman to be your AWFUL wedded wife?'”
Cantaloupe
n. Parental nonconsent (coined by Jon Jaquish, William Safire, “On
Language, 6/30/02)
“If we cantaloupe, I guess we'll have a full-blown wedding ceremony.”
(Irwin M. Berents and Rod L. Evans)
Shotgun wedding
A case of wife or death.
briet
n. A diet that a bride uses to lose weight before her wedding day.
(Bridal + diet)
MONEY
Couch-cushion change
n. A trivial or disappointingly small amount of money.
latte factor
n. Seemingly insignificant daily purchases that add up to a significant amount of money over time (Word Spy, Paul McFredries, coined by
financial analyst, David Bach)
Lipstick (“lipnshtift”) indicator
The tendency for lipstick sales to increase prior to and during a recession.
Rodney Dangerfield valuation
A stock with such a low price/earnings ratio that it just can't get no
respect. (Buzzwords, Fortune Magazine, Feb. 1, 1999)
Spendorphins
The pleasure proteins that seem to be released during a shopping frenzy.
(Martha Bernette in Allure Magazine)
MALLS/SHOPPING
Bob McManus reports that 42 suburban shopping malls outside of NYC are suffering severe financial distress--the most of any state in the nation, including recession-wacked California. Why? First, Internet (Amazon) and big-box (Wal-Mart) competition has walloped traditional mall anchor stores like Sears and Penny's--and shoppers avoid malls without serious anchors.
mallcontents
n. The collection of bored, ticked-off husbands you always see perched
on benches in the middle of a shopping center.
Mallitis
A condition brought on after following your female companion (“bagleyter”)
through too many sale racks.
Wal-Martian
n. A person who does most of his shopping at Wal-Mart. Also, a person
who works at Wal-Mart.
SENIORS
caducity
The infirmity of old age. Ex. “There, there, darling. I don't think that losing
your car keys is necessarily a sign of caducity.”
Alternative dentation
False teeth
downager
n. A person who acts younger than his or her age
Year-itate
To tease someone about his age. Judge Judy Sheindlin revealed that she
has developed a slight hearing problem...she's trying to ignore it. Sometimes it “year-itates” Jerry. She writes, “I was trying a case. The
defendants were three young men from the South. I asked them where
they were on a particular night around midnight. One of he group decided
he was going to be the spokesman, and he said, ‘Well, about midnight,
me and my friends were in the car on he way to Walmart to get some
Monsters.”
I looked at him as if he was crazy. “You want me to believe that you and your friends got in the car at midnight to go buy MATZOHS at Walmart.”
There was a stunned silence. Finally, my trusted court officer, Byrd, leaned over to me and said, “No, Judge, not matzohs--Monsters. It's an energy drink.”(Source: “What Would Judy Say? A Grown-Up Guide To Living Together With Benefits.”)
Peter Pan Syndrome
The person just doesn't want to grow up.
FOOD
judicious
adj. Passover recipes. (Frank Corwin, William Safire, “On Language”)
Bagelicious
(colloq.) An attractive or voluptuous young woman, usually Jewish.
(Lenore Skenazy, “Hey, Oxford, I've got some words for you!”)
NO-DOZ
(acronym) Near Or Directly Opposite Zabar's; desirable residential area on
Manhattan' upper West Side.
CHILDREN
“offsprung”
Children who have left home. (Charles Harrington Elster, Word Fugitives,
by Barbara Wallraff, The Atlantic Monthly.)
shlepard
n. Person burdened with transport. Ex. Until her classmates passed
driver's ed, Portia was the designated shlepard. (Lizzie Skumick, “That Should Be a Word,” New York Magazine, Oct. 14, 2012)
playpen
Your kid's first bachelor pad.
Arsenic hour
The time after parents (“Tate-Mame”) arrive home from work and before
dinner is served: Any extremely hectic part of the day, especially when
dealing with “yung” (young) children.
MISCELLANEOUS
Shiksa
An electric shave for women. (Rabbi Sam Silver, Florida)
taradiddle
n. A small lie; pretentious nonsense.
“farlegnhayt” (embarrassment)
Dan Rather recalls an eventful elevator ride in a large Florida hotel:
After having flown in late during the night, he was up early to go
downstairs and make a speech before several thousand people. In no
mood to be the center of attention, he said, in the elevator, I felt all eyes
on me. He thought to himself: Didn't any of these people's mothers
teach them that it's rude to stare? The elevator soon reached the lobby
and as it empties, a woman gently takes hold of his sleeve. “Mr. Rather,”
she says quietly, “I don't mean to intrude.” She looks around, making
sure no one else is listening. “I don't want this to be embarrassing. But
your fly is unzipped and a piece of your shirt-tail is sticking out through it.”
She then smiled and walked off the elevator leaving Rather to tidy up.
(Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com, July 2001)
Miami Beach
What God has left over when he created Palm Beach. (Steven Gaines)
spinach cinema
Movies that are not very exciting or interesting, but that one feels one
must see because they are educational or otherwise uplifting. (The use
of the word spinach (“shpinat” in Yiddish) here is meant to remind us that
these movies, like the vegetable (“dos grins”), are good for us, but not
particularly palatable.
Bra-mitments
Unwise promises made under the influence of a bosom (“buzem”).
(coined by Fil Feit)
“Emmesophilosis”
An underrated condition where the individual is positively forced to tell
the truth no matter what, even if it could/might bring on an angina
attack in others.
(Marnie Winston-Macauley, Marnie's Guide to Unique Jewish Diseases, II.)
amgivalent
To be divided about a present. “The amgivalent Chloe wondered if she had
to give a gift to each of her sister's triplets, or if one bouncy seat would do.”
(Source: “That Should Be a Word” by Lizzie Skumick)
reverse bucket list
Experiences one hopes never to have here, or never again. The New
York Times asked readers for comments on “reverse bucket list.” One
wrote, “Finding a few black specks on your pillow case, and a couple of
bites on your arm.” (Source: Andy Newman, “In the City, Bucket List Run
in Reverse,” Aug. 3, 2014)
There's the “vants” (bedbugs) story about the haggard guest who checked out of the dilapidated hotel very early in the morning. The sleep-eyed desk clerk accepted the room key and said, “Goodbye, sir. I hope you slept well last night.”
“I slept like a log, if you must know,” snapped the departing guest. “But your poor bed-bugs--they were up all night!”
skinnymalinks
Someone who takes a healthy full-grown flawless perfect lovely bagel
and scoops it out. They tear out its insides.
(Cindy Adams, New York Post)
cocktail calculus
The art of networking. College alumni meetings and trade conferences
are great places to SCHMOOZE and get news on career opportunities
at various companies. And “schmooseoisie” is a noun meaning “The
expanding class of people who make a living by talk, as in radio and
TV. (It's borrowed from Yiddish and French.)
“internets”
Internet. Susie Essman writes about medical information obtained via the
Internet: “I spent a lot of time on these Web sites (“vebzaytl”) checking
symptoms for illnesses and conditions I'm certain to have. So far, this month alone, I've had Lyme disease, hysterical blindness and an ENLARGED PROSTATE.”
(Source: “What Would Susie Say?”)
“Hey, Mabel” effect
n. The feelings and surprise, shock and delight caused by certain
situations or news. Ex. Hollywoodlife.com posted a story saying that Hillary Clinton has leased “sunny spacious digs” for two years in an office overlooking Times Square and is moving in on Aug. 11, 2014. A spokesman for Clinton said [The] plan was for the personal office to move to New York City. We did that last week.” (New York Post, Aug. 6, 2014)
Scurryfunge
A hasty tidying of the house between the time you see a neighbor
(“shokhente”) coming and the time she knocks on the door. (John
Gould) Given 2 1/2 minutes notice to tidy up, one should gather the
newspapers, grocery coupons and library books from the kitchen table
and temporarily place them in the “garazh” (garage).
“flipping out”
A book titled, “Flipping Out” is named after a term for Yeshiva students
who return from Israel significantly more Orthodox and, as a result,
reject their parents' values and lifestyle.
Dopeler effect
The tendency of stupid (“narish”) ideas to seem smarter when they
come at your rapidly. (new definition, Washington Post's Style
Invitational)
ground zero
Teentalk word meaning “Their [teenagers] bedrooms are a total mess.”
Skype sleep
v. To create a Skype connection with a faraway partner and then fall
asleep together.
Um-friend
A sexual relation of dubious standing or a concealed intimate relationship,
as in “This is Avi, my...um...friend.”
Florida
A place where people go for the winter and it's where they usually find
it. (“Weather Wit” by Norman Dvoskin.)
Florida forecast
“Flurries of guests drifting in up to five at a time.” (Norman Dvoskin)
Shaloha
Jews who reside in Hawaii use it as an acknowledgment that can be used to say hello, goodbye, or peace--a synthesis of Shalom and Aloha.
(Urban Dictionary)
“spetsyel” (Yiddish for “special)
Gerald M. Siegel wrote, “I knew from my grandmother that I was a
bubele, ziskayt, miskayt, kluge yung, longa luksh, and khalaria and
that all of those meant I was someone special.”
(“Shtey Glaykh: Yiddish Lessons” by Gerald M. Siegel.)
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