The Hebrew Hammer?
 

comes on Comedy Central on Monday.

I swear I am not making this up! I am going to watch at least the first five minutes. It looks like it'll be funny, unless all the jokes depend on the viewer knowing yiddish, lol.

Everyone who lives in NYC should know at least a dozen Yiddish words. If not, we'll start a Yiddish thread.

My knowledge stops at oy vey and meshuggeneh, lol.

you don't know prick?? :D :p

or schmuck? :)

That term ain't Hebrew, it's Universal, lol.

Hebrew vs. Yiddish
 

OK, time for some clarification. Yiddish is not Hebrew. Its a dialect of German, with Hebrew influences. Yiddish does use the Hebrew alphabet because prior to the Guttenberg Press, obtaining knowledge of the germanic written language was restricted.

Russell's right... if you're a native (as I am) or a resident of New Yawk, you don't learn Yiddish, it learns you! Yiddish is the language of the European Jew, while a Spanish equivalent of Yiddish called Ladino is spoken more by Sephardic Jews.

Time for a bagel or a bialy with Nova lox and a schmeer of cream cheese. Then you long for the warm days of summer, but not the days when it's so hot you shvitz! Oy vey!

Some common words of Yiddish that have become part and parcel of everyday American language:

schmuck
putz
pisher
meshugga (pl. meshugganah)
goy (pl. goyim)
shiksa
shtupping

I highly recommend reading The Joys of Yiddish by Leo Rosten, for more about the history and usage of Yiddish.

I was feeling rather verklempt earlier.

Now I'm ready for a nosh...

I think I went to over 20 Bar and Bat mitzvahs in Junior High, I know way too much Yiddish. Lucky for me my mother worked in a gift and stationery store so I got the pen and pencil sets cheap ;)

Ohhh some latkes with sour cream and applesauce, mmmm

This thread reminds me of my favorite Lifetime rerun...The Nanny! :)

my mom knows some yiddish. Her grandparents and parents spoke it. I dont know much beyond oyvey and some random phrases she'll say every once in a while...I think it would be cool to learn though!!

This thread reminds me of Mike Myers on SNL playing his mother in law Linda Richman, host of Coffee Talk.

I'm a little verklempt. Talk amongst yourself. I'll give you a topic: the Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy nor Roman nor an empire. Discuss!

I saw the actor (can't remember his name at the moment) on The Daily Show the other night, and it made me REALLY want to see this movie.. unfortunately, I don't think the Comedy Network (Canada) is airing it.

Anyone wanna hook a sister up with a copy? I'll pay postage/cost of the video tape! PM or IM me!

THE NANNY RULES!!!!!!!!!

She was working in a bridal shop in Flushing, Queens,
Til her boyfriend kicked her out in one of those crushing scenes.
What was she to do, where was she to go
She was out on her fanny.

So over the bridge from Flushing to the Sheffield's door,
She was there to sell make up but the father saw more,
She had style, she had flair, she was there,
That's how she became the Nanny.

Who would have guessed that the girl we described
was just exactly what the doctor prescribed?

Now, the father finds her beguiling, watch out C.C.,
The kids are actually smiling, such joie de vivre
She's the lady in red when everybody else is wearing tan.
The flashy girl from Flushing, the Nanny named Fran.


I watch it EVERY DAY!!! I take my breaks at work just to watch it (We have Direct TV satellite in our break room!!!)

YAY for you. We became Nanny addicts in the sorority house when I lived in, and now we'll email each other about it.

A entertaining point of interested - in the ep where CC went to the sorority reunion, the banner said "Welcome Gamma Phi." My sisters always teased me that if I don't calm down I'll end up like her. :p