How Yiddish adds to our vocabulary.
When I say ours, I mean cockneys.
During a recent conversation with a friend, the word “slap” was used to describe a fairly long distance or journey, as in “that was a fair old slap”.
The word Slap, used to describe a long journey or distance, comes from the Yiddish word Schlep.
I believe Schlep, in its original form, means to carry or drag something you don’t really want or need. But I could be wrong.
Most of my friends and I grew up in the east end of London before moving to Hertfordshire where we all met.
So, it is no surprise, given the large Jewish population in those areas, that our conversation is peppered with words that have their origins in Yiddish.
And there are a few other words that are used by us which have their origins in Yiddish.
The word Spiel is one of them. When I was growing up, my friends and I would often visit London’s famous Sunday market in Petticoat Lane. Here we would see sellers of all sorts of goods doing their spiel.
Spiel in Yiddish means a long-winded sales pitch, and these men were excellent spielers, and a joy to watch and listen to, but not necessarily to buy from.
Another word that has crept into general use in the English language is “nosh”.
Nosh in Yiddish means to nibble or a light snack.
The most used word is Kosher.
In Yiddish Kosher means food fit for consumption. But it has a wider use in Londoners vocabulary.
If you describe someone as Kosher, you are saying they are straight and genuine, a person to be trusted.
It can also mean the real article. I attended an auction in London some years ago. A batch of watches came up for sale. The auctioneer described them as Kosher. The genuine article.
There are probably many more words that we have assimilated from the Yiddish language and do not realise where they came from. And the explanation I have given may not be strictly accurate.
But we know what we mean when we use them.
Some more articles written by me.
Have you ever had a life changing event?