how do I swear in yiddish, yutz?

[S4R]

click it

 

[avi]

without looking, I can already tell you there's a million ways to call someone a penis

 

[FalseTodd]

It's not an insult, but my all time favorite Yiddish saying is: "...and if my Grandmother had balls, she'd be my Grandfather."

 

[exciar28]

oh god, a list of 'swear in Korean' is so inaccurate. 'Kochu' is a pet name of... dick. WE USE 'JOT(yes, dick)' TO SWEAR. If there's anyone who interested in swearing in Korean, I'll give you lessons FOR FREE

 

[FalseTodd]

The Yiddish list is totally incorrect too. Here's what they MEANT:

Putz: Literally 'Penis'. (Not 'dickhead')

Yutz: They say 'asshole', but the vast majority of Yiddish insults are about someone's intelligence, Including Yutz, which I think just means 'idiot', or the like.

Their definitions for schlamiel and shlamazel are kinda correct, but they just lifted them from popular sources. Really, schlamiel is another one for idiot, particularly a clumsy fool, and schlamazel means more of a 'born loser'.

Mishugena (as they spell it) reveals a common misconception. The correct spelling is in fact "meshuggener" (the 'r' at the end being important). Much like in English, the suffix -er is a modifier meaning "one who does or is...[whatever the modified word is". Thus "meshuggah" means crazy, and a "meshuggener" is someone who is crazy. People think that word ends in "eh" or "ah" because of the common pronunciation, where the 'r' is deemphasized to the point of being nearly inaudible.

 

[xfer]

well, I think that for those instances, the site's trying to walk the line between a literal translation and an emulation of what they actually MEAN. like, a Yiddish-speaker calling me a putz means something closer to an English-speaker calling me a "dickhead", not an English-speaker calling me a "penis".

there's no Russian insult literally meaning "asshole", for example--the closest Russian expression is a long and clunky thing that's like saying "You are a hole in one's bottom!". but the words they give closely approximate what i actually mean when i call you an "asshole".

Russian mat (swearing, roughly) is kind of different than English swearing, so it's really hard to translate, but it's the only language in the world where they don't have ass and shit references in their insults. Russian insults are almost entirely focused around sex.

anyway, if you want to shout at a jerk walking across the street in Moscow and use the word they give for "asshole", you'd be meaning something very similar to the English insult. if you matter-of-factly tried to describe that you had a Coke bottle stuck in your butt, though, you wouldn't say "mudak".

 

[xfer]

i was looking for the New Yorker article that described this. i own and read it in the paper copy, but i'm afraid online they only have someone talking about the article.

http://www.languagehat.com/archives/000833.php

 

[IanDork107]

I wouldn't be very surprised if my grandmother and her friends could speak fluent yiddish. Sometimes my brother and I like to play tricks on her when we're visiting. When she goes out we'll think of the most Jewish name ever (Rosenburg, Weinstein, etc) and we'll tell her that either Mr. or Mrs. (insert jewish last name here) called while she was out. Without fail she'll either know someone with that name or a name that's very very close. It's very amusing.

 

[AndICried]

Schlamazel = great word

 

[IanDork107]

schmega (maybe not spelled exactly like that) is the foreskin once it's been removed by circumcision.

 

[IanDork107]

actually, it may just be smegma.

 

[AndICried]

What's Schmuck (sp.)? I have a (Jewish) friend who previously explained to me what this meant.

 

[FalseTodd]

well, I think that for those instances, the site's trying to walk the line between a literal translation and an emulation of what they actually MEAN. like, a Yiddish-speaker calling me a putz means something closer to an English-speaker calling me a "dickhead", not an English-speaker calling me a "penis".

there's no Russian insult literally meaning "asshole", for example--the closest Russian expression is a long and clunky thing that's like saying "You are a hole in one's bottom!". but the words they give closely approximate what i actually mean when i call you an "asshole".

On the dick thing I totally concede - I just thought it odd that they would use a synonym so close to the literal meaning. As to the yutz thing, I take asshole to mean, like: "You prick! You're a mean person!" Whereas saying someone is an idiot is something else altogether. It's much more dismissive. I've never heard "yutz" in the context of "That guy really fucked me over!" or "Hey that guy cut me off!" So I don't consider 'asshole' to be a good translation of 'yutz'.

 

[FalseTodd]

AndICried: 'Schmuck' as you might expect, usually means 'idiot' or 'dumbass'. A total fool.

 

[Demonspell]

One of my high school teachers used to call unruly students putzes and schmucks quite frequently...

 

[xfer]

As to the yutz thing, I take asshole to mean, like: "You prick! You're a mean person!" Whereas saying someone is an idiot is something else altogether. It's much more dismissive. I've never heard "yutz" in the context of "That guy really fucked me over!" or "Hey that guy cut me off!" So I don't consider 'asshole' to be a good translation of 'yutz'.

That sounds like an astute and accurate criticism of the site. I wonder if they guy misuses yutz, or misuses asshole?

 

[FalseTodd]

hehe. I think it's amusing that someone would put up a webpage like that after having only the most minimal contact with the language.

 

[exciar28]

No one has an interest in swearing in Korean. *sob*

 

[xfer]

how coincidental. "sob" is an insult in English, too!