Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Portnoy Yiddish
Portnoy Yiddish
ruggeleh = rolled pastry made with nuts (also figures in American Pastoral)
schmaltz = chicken fat; maudlin sentimentality
schmegeggy = drip, incompetent person
schmendrick = weakling, little boy, jerk
schmuck = also shmuck; male organ; fool (see also putz, shlong, shvantz)
shande = shame
shaygets = young Gentile man
shicker = a drunk
shikse = (or shiksa) gentile woman
shiva = seven days of mourning after Jewish funeral; “sitting shiva”(one sits on a stool)
shkotzim = gentile men (plural of shaygets)
shlemiel = fool, loser
shlep = drag, pull, haul; a person who is a drag or jerk
shlong = male organ (see also putz, schmuck, shvantz)
shmatta = rag, piece of cloth, a dress
shmutz = dirt
shmutzig = dirty
shnoz = nose
shtarke = tough guy, big shot
shtunk = fool, dope, jerk; stinker, mean person; scandalous mess
shtup = push, shove; slang for fornicate
shvantz = male organ (see also putz, shlong, schmuck)
shvartze = black person
shvitz = sweat
shvitz bath = Turkish bath, steam bath
tateleh = little boy
tsatskeleh = toy, plaything
trafe = (or trayf) food that is not kosher
tsura = (plural tsuris) trouble, woe, suffering
tuchis = ass
vantz = louse
zaftig = buxom, plump, well-rounded figure on a woman. Can mean “fat.” Literally means
“juicy.”
With thanks to Leo Rosten, The Joys of Yiddish (NY: McGraw-Hill, 1968) and The Joys of
Yinglish (NY: McGraw-Hill, 1989), and to Arthur Naiman, Every Goy’s Guide to Common
Jewish Expressions (NY: Ballantine, 1981).