The Vortsman, meaning "man of his word," brings you the story of a different Yiddish word or phrase each month.
Written by Hershl Hartman, long-time Yiddishkayt Board Member and Education Director at the Sholem Community
A Yiddish teacher of mine in my mis-spent youth (preceding my mis-spent maturity and dotage) once self-published a softcover book called "mit yidish ken men oysforn a velt"-With Yiddish One Can Travel The World. (Author Shloyme Davidman, for the benefit of bibliophiles.) While circumnavigation through the language is more difficult these days, this month's column reflects its continued widespread use and interest. We go from Santa Barbara to Scotland (!) by way of Kansas and Massachusetts and dip a toe into both inter-culturalism and inter-religious interchange.
The Vortsman's sister up the coast in Santa Barbara, Miriam (Mickey) Hartman Flacks, is a sometimes Yiddish/English translator (see our joint essay in Vol.2 of Jews And American Popular Culture) who passed on this query from Bob Becker of Overland Park, KS: "How would you translate gomelkes?" The answer was quickly found in Alexander Harkavy's very useful 1928 Yiddish-English-Hebrew dictionary, defined as "a triangular lump of cheese." Could that be the origin of the Laughing Cow...?
An inquiry from Massachusetts about spelling (not germane here) resulted in a brief lesson for the Yidbits editor on what's called "source awareness," the sub-conscious knowledge of native Yiddish-speakers about the origins of words that dictates their proper use. Ye olde editor had referred to a shayle (question) for this column. The Vortsman pointed out in his usual arch manner that the Hebrew-origin shayle is used for questions about matters in the Holy Books, while a query of a mundane nature is the German-origin frage. The response to each form of question differs, too. For a shayle, it's a tshuve. For a frage, the answer is the Germanic entfer. Any questions?
Audrey Coleman, a hige (a local L.A. resident), asks about "nishka ferla," explaining:
"My grandmother used (the) expression I never understood...I tried to gather (the meaning) from the tone and body language...but there didn't seem to be any...positive or negative emotion...Since it wasn't meant for my ears, I couldn't ask the meaning and my interest faded for decades..."
Audrey thus sums up the tragedy of Yiddish transmission. When parents or grandparents spoke Yiddish, their native-born offspring assumed incorrectly that they were "keeping secrets." Actually, the elders were using their native tongue for easier communication among themselves ("grown up" talk). Also, they were equally mistaken in their belief that speaking Yiddish to their offspring would interfere with the kids' learning of proper English.
Oh..."nishka ferla," as Ms Coleman heard it, was actually nisht geferlekh-not so terrible, no big deal, not to worry...
Another local, Lou Cherloff, shared his delight upon realizing that the English word "smut" shares its origin with the Yiddish shmuts-both meaning "dirt," though the Yiddish version covers both the physical and the, err, spiritual.
This resulted in an exchange about the fact that both English and Yiddish are cousins, in that both can trace at least part of their origins to Middle High German and that both are "loan languages" that borrow heavily. In the case of Yiddish, it's Slavic and Hebrew/Aramaic (recently, English) that are the main sources. English picked the pockets of Latin and French, in addition to many other tongues.
Which brings us, inter-culturally, to the Polish roots of the word submitted by Gerald Gershten (location unknown): "poskudnyok." It's actually paskudNYAK, with the accent on the last syllable, meaning scoundrel. The plural is paskudNYAKes; feminine is pasKUDnetse(s). The word derives from the Polish word for "abomination": paskudztwo, which is rendered in Yiddish as pasKUDstve, a much stronger term than shmuts. The Yiddish adjective, pasKUDne, means rotten, nasty, loathsome.
Now for the inter-religious bit. Esther Goodman, a recent Yidbits subscriber, suggests we discuss amol in a novine, or eyn mol in a novine-both of which are referenced in the famous children's song, "Bulbes,"-potatoes. The phrase translates as "once in a novena," and refers, of all things, to the practice in the Catholic Church of "reciting prayers and devotions for a special purpose for a period of nine days." Novena comes from the Latin word for "nine"-novem.
As for Scotland and Yiddish, hold on ye lads and lassies-khevrenikes. You'll find it in an article in the "HeraldScotland" on the net at:
http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/guest-commentary/what-s-the-story-with-klutz-1.1046528#have-your-say
Enjoy. lebt a tog.
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Have a question for the Vortsman? Send him an email and ask the meaning of a favorite, or confusing, word or phrase.
My favorite night of the year is approaching, where we get to live one hour of our year over again. While we may not have time machines yet, remember to set your clock back one hour at 2 AM on Sunday morning, or whenever you go to bed that night. 
The California Institute of Yiddish Culture and Language is launching its first event of the season with editor and translator Bracha Weingrod, whose translation of the Yiddish Family Cookbook is sure to delight. 
