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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.
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ASF
Causa latet vis est notissima - the cause is hidden, the results are well known.
Alpha Alpha (University of Oklahoma) Chapter, #814, 1984
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