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The Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form, also known as OEDILF, includes a limerick by Sheila B. Blume that illustrates the use of the Yiddish word farblunget. This is part of a complete episode.
Elliott, from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, asks about the Yiddish word variously spelled farblonjet, farblunget, and other ways. It means lost, befuddled, or confused and may derive from a Polish term meaning to go astray. This is part of a complete...
A woman in Reno, Nevada, wonders about the expression, “What am I, chopped liver?” Chopped liver is a traditional Jewish dish that’s always a side item, never the main course. Speaking of traditional Jewish foods, the term...
The Yiddish phrase Hak mir nisht keyn tshaynik and its variants have been used to tell someone to stop babbling or making noise. Literally, it means “don’t knock me a teakettle.” This is part of a complete episode.
A listener in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, wonders about the origin of the word verklempt, which describes someone all seized up with emotion. This Yiddish term, also spelled farklempt, enjoyed a surge in popularity during the 1990s when it was used...
The phrase he doesn’t know from (something), meaning “he doesn’t know about (something),” is a word-for-word borrowing, or calque, of a Yiddish phrase “Er veys nit fun.” This is part of a complete episode.