For decades, writers have celebrated the fruitful dialogue between English and Yiddish. Here Gene Bluestein introduces Anglicized Yiddish, in which a Yiddish word is integrated into English and English into Yiddish. Featuring the words of some of America's most distinguished voices, this updated second edition reveals the ways Yiddish has transformed the American language.

More irresistable humor and interesting anecdotes from the author of Joy of Yiddish as he explores hundreds of Yiddish words and phrases that have become part of the English language. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This text presents an introductory course in Yinglish - a clever combination of Yiddish and English that yields a wholly unique lexicon able to describe the indescribable. Words and phrases include deja nu, bialystuck and Jew jitsu.

You're no idiot, of course. You can serve up a mean s'il vous plaît in a French bistro, live la vida loca for a night of margaritas, and manage a sayonara! after sushi, sake, and karaoke. But when it comes to throwing around a little Yiddish, you feel like a total nebbish! Don't throw up your hands in a helpless “Oy, vey” just yet! The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Learning Yiddish is your guide to this unique tongue, whether you're tackling rules of grammar or just throwing around some key phrases so you sound a little less goyish. In this Complete Idiot's Guide® you get: --A fascinating explanation of how and why Yiddish developed. --An easy introduction to the Yiddish alphabet, as well as to the distinctive sound of Yiddish. --All the Yiddish you'll need for communicating with family and friends or for bargain-hunting on New York's Lower East Side. --A treasury of Yiddish words and phrases for everything.

One doesn't have to be Jewish to recognize the words that have made their way into every fold of popular language: Chutzpah, Mensch, Tokhes, Mishmash, Nudge, Shtick, Schmaltzy, Schlep, Icky, and so on. Then there are phrases whose meaning and syntax are borrowed from Yiddish: "bite your tongue", "drop dead", "enough already", and "excuse the expression". This hilarious, concise guide includes chapters on the Basic Descriptions of People (the good, the bad, the ugly, and the goofy), the Fine Art of Cursing, Juicy Words and Phrases, Exclamations and Exasperations, and the Fine Art of Blessing.

"For more than one century, Yiddish has been in contact with American English. To examine the linguistic traces of this contact we first retrace the background of Jewish immigration to the United States and present a history of Yiddish as a 'contact language'. We then proceed to the diachronic, synchronic and sociolinguistic analysis of Yiddish features in American English as expressed by the New York Ashkenazi Jewish people. Our primary sources are of four different types and cover a time span of sixty years: shops signs, books, articles from The Forward in English; extensive extracts from American Jewish websites and forums. In these sources we examine the lexical, morphological and syntactic features characterizing the presence of Yiddish in American English. When we study the evolution which took place in the last sixty years regarding Yiddish and its presence in American English, our conclusion, when making the link between this data and the sociological determiners involved, is that after a period of assimilation and fading, we witness today the revival of Yiddish words features in American English, especially morphological ones; the ethnic/ religious commitment of a young generation of 'connected' observant Jews brings about a modified American English compared to the previous generation"--back cover.

More than a quarter of a century ago, Leo Rosten published the first comprehensive and hilariously entertaining lexicon of the colorful and deeply expressive language of Yiddish. Said “to give body and soul to the Yiddish language,” The Joys of Yiddish went on to become an indispensable tool for writers, journalists, politicians, and students, as well as a perennial bestseller for three decades. Rosten described his book as “a relaxed lexicon of Yiddish, Hebrew, and Yinglish words often encountered in English, plus dozens that ought to be, with serendipitous excursions into Jewish humor, habits, holidays, history, religion, ceremonies, folklore, and cuisine–the whole generously garnished with stories, anecdotes, epigrams, Talmudic quotations, folk sayings, and jokes.” To this day, it is considered the seminal work on Yiddish in America–a true classic and a staple in the libraries of Jews and non-Jews alike. With the recent renaissance of interest in Yiddish, and in keeping with a language that embodies the variety and vibrancy of life itself, The New Joys of Yiddish brings Leo Rosten’s masterful work up to date. Revised for the first time by Lawrence Bush in close consultation with Rosten’s daughters, it retains the spirit of the original–with its wonderful jokes, tidbits of cultural history, Talmudic and Biblical references, and tips on pronunciation–and enhances it with hundreds of new entries, thoughtful commentary on how Yiddish has evolved over the years, and an invaluable new English-to-Yiddish index. In addition, The New Joys of Yiddish includes wondrous and amusing illustrations by renowned artist R.O. Blechman.

A Simon & Schuster eBook. Simon & Schuster has a great book for every reader.

The author of classic Yiddish novels and short stories, Sholem Aleichem—best known for having inspired the popular play, Fiddler on the Roof, evokes the voices of Yiddish speakers in these monologues written between 1901 and 1916. In each piece, a man or a woman comes forward to tell the story. The implied listeners—a rabbi, a doctor, or the author himself—says virtually nothing. Aleichem pretends to have transcribed these private performances for the reader's benefit.

For more than two hundred years, Jews have played important roles in the development of American literature. The Cambridge Companion to Jewish American Literature addresses a wide array of themes and approaches to the distinct yet multifaceted body of Jewish American literature. Essays examine writing from the 1700s to major contemporary writers such as Saul Bellow and Philip Roth. Topics covered include literary history, immigration and acculturation, Yiddish and Hebrew literature, popular culture, women writers, literary theory and poetics, multilingualism, the Holocaust, and contemporary fiction. This collection of specially commissioned essays by leading figures discusses Jewish American literature in relation to ethnicity, religion, politics, race, gender, ideology, history, and ethics, and places it in the contexts of both Jewish and American writing. With its chronology and guides to further reading, this volume will prove valuable to scholars and students alike.