The "Did you know" thread.....

[bombermouse]

Actually "Yid" means Jew in several languages. Thus Yiddish just means Jewish.

[Greenman]

Yes true but there are different kinds of Jews, orthodox, reform, ultra orthodox and some wouldn't use that word to describe their religion. The Nazis painted 'JUDE' and the white Magen David(Star of David) on windows and doors in their persecution of the Jews before the War.

I seem to recall Davy Kaye a rather diminutive actor appeared in several comedy films and a couple of dramatic ones including the crime caper 'The Biggest Bank Robbery' with David Niven & Elke Sommer. He played a stereotypical Jew, a tailor whose nickname was Sid the Yid - not only Jewish but also an East End of London sort.

At that time you could get away with it but I doubt you would today. At that time you were either a furrier(fur seller) or a tailor(nice bit of schmutta). The higher West End would have your doctors, lawyers, solicitors, and other moneyed trades. What annoys me about the stererotype today is that it is assumed that all Jews are made up of a father who is a Rabbi and/or an Orthodox one with the wide-brim hats and ringlets. Ordinary Jews regard Orthodox and Ultra Orthodox Jews as outsiders mostly because they are unclean and breed like rabbits! Personally we keep ourselves to ourselves and steer clear of trouble

One thing I can confirm is that no Jew that I knew(being one myself) ever went around saying "My Life!" "Already!" let alone "Oy Vey!" but I am sure some did.

On a lighter note I do find it amusing to see Angus Deayton appearing in an episode of Blackadder series 1 as a group that called themselves the "Jumping Jews of Jerusalem" and that is all they did, jumping up and down in their prayer shawls.

[NIN]

There have been more than 900 million Android devices that have been activated ,
compared to 400 million up-until last year.

[savage560]

Originally Posted by bombermouse

Actually "Yid" means Jew in several languages. Thus Yiddish just means Jewish.

In Germanic languages?I think that is describing their language not religion ,no?Ie. "Yiddish"?Never heard that in English,esp. American Eng.


In most East & South Slavic languages their name for Jew is pronounced Yevere' ,spelled in the latin script,Jevere.A more base form would be Zhid or Zhit,depending on if its Russian,Ukrainian,Serbian ,Bulgarian, or Macedonian,etc. or WS Zhid is the norm.

[tygrkhat40]

Yiddish phrases pepper the American English vocabulary: schmaltz, putz, schmuck, schmooze, schlep, klutz among others.

[Greenman]

Lord Alan Sugar likes to use that phrase schmooze or schmoozers, what the Americans might call a suck-up. Schmaltz is basically something too sweet or twee, schmuck is interesting because not only is it an insulting word but it also means jewellery in german-at least that is what was on screen when we first saw German satellite television-the Schmuck Hour To schlep means to move back and forth from one place to another, usually with reluctance incase it is a waste of time. Klutz, probably another from of clumsy or awkward. Putz not sure about that I am sure someone will let us know. I could add Schnorrer, which means to beg or cadge off someone-I once did this for charity, asking people for donations of food in Jewish areas to help others - the best houses usually obliged more.

[Mal Hombre]

The Putz is basically the penis.One of the most familiar Yiddish words in English is Chutzpah which has no direct translation in English but approximates to audacious or cheeky cleverness.

[richardoe]

Chutzpah was defined to me as "a man who kills his parents and then asks the judge to take pity on an orphan!"

[Greenman]

There have only been two Jewish sitcoms. In the 90s on BBC1, a writer, Paul Mendelsohn(sp?) created 'So Haunt Me', about a jewish mother(Miriam Karlin) who is stuck haunting her house and is bought by a family. She goes on about her daughter "Carole, with an E" and in the beginning only the youngest son and dog can see/feel her presence, but in the next series the husband can and then pretty soon they all do. It was very well written and on the BBC. I don't remember 'Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width', which was the first one set in a tailor's shop with John Bluthal but a lot of the jewish phrases were used in So Haunt Me. One which my mother, whose name is also Carole, with an E btw was 'feh!' perhaps similar to 'meh' nowadays, which I would say was along the lines of 'so what!' It is more a throwaway line when the character doesn't believe something or someone. I just remember laughing a lot because a lot of the Jewish humour probably went over many viewers' heads.

[Estreeter]

Originally Posted by Greenman

There have only been two Jewish sitcoms.

Did you know........

I've learned more about Jewish, things, stuff, people, culture etc, from this forum thanks too GM, than anywhere else.

There's no Jewish people from my hometown, there a small population in Melbourne, but none form where I'm from.

Thanks Mate, You're a wealth of info And a man among men

We are men aren't we Last time I checked I was