Saturday, August 08, 2015

Vocabulary - Yiddish

Yiddish is the language of Jews of eastern and central Europe and their descendants. It is conventionally written in the Hebrew alphabet. I know it is not relevant but still; among my favourite words is the word Chutzpah which has a Yiddish origin. For some reason, I feel that it depicts what it means in a wonderful manner. And for those of you who have watched the movie 'Haider' - Shahid Kapoor got the pronunciation conveniently wrong.

Here are a few words from Yiddish.

Chutzpah (khoot-spuh)
Audacity; nerve
Etymology: Khutspa = to be insolent

Glitch
A defect or malfunction in a machine or plan.
Etymology: Glitsh = Slip, skate or nosedive; slippery area.

Klutz
Clumsy or awkward person
Etymology: Klots = A block of wood

Schmooze
Chat, make small talk, converse about nothing in particular.
Etymology: Schmues = reports, gossip

Maven
an expert or connoisseur.
Etymology: Meyvn = Connoisseur

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