PopJudaica.com is celebrating Chanukah with 8 Days of Giveaways! Each day this week, beginning today, we'll be gifting one lucky blog reader with a special Chanukah gift.
The first prize is a Schlep Tote bag. Eco-friendly and uber chic, this tote will have all your friends kvelling!
To enter to win, leave your favorite Yiddish word in the comments section below by midnight PT tonight 12/21/08. We'll pick a winner at random and notify the winning entry via email.
**ENTRY FOR THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED**
Tuchas
ReplyDeleteMine is tuchas, too! :)
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is 'shayna'. I liked it so much that's what I named my daughter!
ReplyDeleteMarlene
Schmutz, although Schmuck is a close second ;) Thanks for the Chanukah fun!
ReplyDeletemeshugah
ReplyDeletetuchas ;)
ReplyDeleteschmaltz or schmaltzy - i like it because it literally means congealed chicken fat, but has taken on the meaning of expensive or ritzy, since the flavor of chicken fat is so rich and tasty (that's what i've heard, at least).
ReplyDeletemishegas
ReplyDeletee.g. i almost died laughing when Tom Brokaw used "mishegas" to describe Obama's win on election night. twice.
'ongeblozzen'...unfortunately, it's how our california 'guest' pooch is looking in our freezing midwestern weather.
ReplyDeleteI say schmutz
ReplyDeleteIt's got to be schvitz.
ReplyDeleteOh, it is definitely pisher.
ReplyDeleteSchviger.
ReplyDeleteit means Mother-in-Law.
it sounds just like what it is!
i love tuchas..i even have pants that say it..on my TUCHAS!!
ReplyDeleteThere are so many, but lately my 8 year old daughter has started using the word "bubkes" to describe "nothing" & it's so cute, I have to go with "bubkes"
ReplyDeleteGoniff...don't ask why!
ReplyDeleteI'm a nearly fluent Yiddish speaker, so the choices are many, but since I'm spending the whole day in the kitchen, I'll go with nosher and fresher, designating two types of eaters (with no category for s/he who chooses not to eat!).
ReplyDeleteNosh would be mine... with schlep being a close second!
ReplyDeleteMeshugunah!
ReplyDeleteungepochkt. It's how I usually describe my cooking and/or housekeeping... somewhat cobbled together at random.
ReplyDeletemeshugas
ReplyDeleteschmutz-- sounds so descriptive!
ReplyDeleteKeppie is my favorite
ReplyDeleteluchinkupp (lousy spelling, I'm sure), but my grandmother used to say I need that like a luchinkupp (hole in the head)
ReplyDeleteSchmuck
ReplyDeleteibbledick!
ReplyDeleteChazarai is my most favorite yiddish word! Love it...use it daily!! As in -- my husband eats so much chazarai - and he wonders why he has a belly!?
ReplyDeleteschmata!
ReplyDeletechazerye
ReplyDeleteMy favorite has got to be shmatah!
ReplyDeleteMine is schmata; it makes a rag almost sound glamorous...
ReplyDeletekochlefel! trouble maker. my bubbe always said I was one!
ReplyDeleteI think my favorite is a toss up between neshtugedach and broigus. My favorite question, however is "vus gezucht?" :-)
ReplyDeleteschmutz
ReplyDeleteChutzpah. Example: When a man is on trial for killing his parents, he asks for mercy because he is an orphan. That is "Chutzpah".
ReplyDeleteFar fallen
ReplyDeleteSchmarel!
ReplyDeletekvetch...
ReplyDeleteBecause, you are doing it by just saying the word!!
mishegas
ReplyDeleteHow about a phrase?! My bubbe perpetually wished me a gezuntin dein pupik (a blessing on your belly button)! Why my belly button I don't know, but that makes it all the more awesome!
ReplyDeleteZaftig!
ReplyDeletemishegas
ReplyDeleteNosh. I especially like how the goyim have incorporated this word into everyday English.
ReplyDeleteShlemazel. There are many phrases I love, but this pretty much describes me :)
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Yiddish word is pulkey, as in "I love to squeeze babies' pulkeys. My daughter was four before she learned the word thigh.
ReplyDeletehaimish
ReplyDeleteThere are so many that i love but since I had pick one, there you go.
Happy Chanukah to all!
plotz! as in, I'm plotzing already to know who's going to win the tote :-)
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I'm the first to say "putz." Maybe the rest of you are too polite or too farmisht to think of it:)
ReplyDeleteschlep
ReplyDelete(i'm impressed with all the comments!)
ReplyDeletemy fave word is shmutz or shmutzy. or shandeh. so much more descriptive than English.
Schlep! I know so many and would love to try to stuff them into this tote, or some other large bag!
ReplyDeleteShmohawk. Curb Your Enthusiasm, anyone?
ReplyDeleteI really can't decide between Farbiscina (sp? "Grumpy") and Tchotchkey (another one I can't spell).
ReplyDeleteschmatah
ReplyDeleteBubbie as it brings back such wonderful memories
ReplyDeleteSchlep is actually one of my most-used words, Yiddish or otherwise. And I see Chosen Blog contributor Chaviva walking around with this tote bag all the time!
ReplyDeleteI like Formisht, since meshugena was taken..LOL
ReplyDeleteOne of my close friends has a license plate that reads..........
"4misht"!!
jami :)
Tchotchke...It's a little gift, perfect for Chanukah.
ReplyDeleteI have to go with the classic oi gevald.
ReplyDeleteFeklempt. The best word ever.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite word is MISHPOCHA, because mine gives me NACHES.
ReplyDeleteBlather From Brooklyn
schmaltz!
ReplyDeleteTchotchkes as in tradeshow goodies.
ReplyDeleteAll time best: Farblondjet (and too make a new one Farblogget (as in: "You wrote about that post on your blog? I already far'blogget that weeks ago!")
ReplyDeletedrek
ReplyDeleteMy fav would have to be "Shmutz" because I laugh recollecting that my kids did not actually know that this is not the word most Americans use for what come out of your nose (i.e. snot or boogers) until going to public school and running into some confusion with their Gentile teachers.
ReplyDeleteI love schmutz but my 10 year old uses gornischt a lot.
ReplyDeleteoi vey
ReplyDeleteThere are Yiddish words that simply do not have an equivalent in any language such as feh, nu?, kvell and kvetch. Then there are those that roll off the tongue so delightfully like alter kacker, meiskeit, dreck, ek velt, mechaieh and those that are extraordinarily expressive such as drey kop, kin a hora and guntzer macher. But if I must chose one, it would be my father's favorite: "A nechtiger tog," an impossibility, when pigs fly, etc.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite Yiddish word is "fekakte"... I know I spelled it wrong... That or "alta kahker" -- also spelled wrong...
ReplyDeleteI named my kitten Oliver-Shalom because I thought Aliva-Shulum (sp? may he/she rest in peace) was a guy's name when I was a kid and didn't understand why there were so many dead "Olivers".
ReplyDeletemy favorite is nebbish. it sounds just like it is.
ReplyDeleteTough one...
ReplyDeleteI used to live K'vetch, but since the Trips have become experts...not so much.
I LOVE the way my daughter says Shvitzy - Sher-witz-see.
schvitz because it sounds like a "naughty" word but isn't!
ReplyDeleteBubbemeis, is my favorite
ReplyDeleteschlemiel
ReplyDeletePlotz
ReplyDeletei know i'm late, but meshuggenah
ReplyDeleteUngebluzen!!
ReplyDelete...mine is, in fact, "SCHLEP"!
ReplyDeleteand it perfectly describes me...
chloe