THE DICTIONARY OF POPULAR YIDDISH WORDS, PHRASES,

by Fred Kogos

Yiddish, born in the eleventh century, has been an international language of the Jewish people ever since. At least ten million people speak Yiddish, and the tongue is so universal that it has become a linguistic passport in much of the world.

Wish you could say classic Yiddish proverbs, such as:

- A falsheh matba'ieh farliert men nit: A bad penny always turns up.

- Nit kain entfer iz oich an entfler: No answer is also an answer.

- Az se brent, iz a fei'er: Where there's smoke, there's fire.

Ever wonder what people mean when they say words like k'vetsh, meshugeh, nebbish, and shnook? This fascinating, useful, sometimes riotously funny collection of colloquialisms, proverbs, curses, maxims, and ribald expressions will teach you everything you ever wanted to know about one of the world's most remarkable languages.

400 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

Reviews

[Tiff Gibbo]

A shlemiel is somebody who often spills his soup; a shlimazel is the person the soup lands on.

For someone who has had almost no direct interaction with yiddish my entire life, this was a great place to start.