Phrases that should really exist in English Part One
ale tseyn zoln dir oysfaln, nor eyner zol dir blaybn af tsonveytik- all your teeth should fall out,but you should keep one to get a toothache with
hak mir nisht ken tshaynik-don’t knock me a teakettle-stop rattling on about the same thing all the time (like the lid of a boiling kettle rattling)
yeytser-hore-bleterl- a small blotch of the evil inclination- a lovebite
zol dir dreyen farn nopl- you should go dizzy in the navel
a dank dir in pupik- thank you in the navel- thanks for nothing
vi got in frankraykh- like God in France- “living in sin”
der malekh ha-moves zol zikh in dir farlibn- the Angel of Death should fall in love with you
shtarbn in fremde takhrikhim- to die in someone else’s shrouds- to die in debt
mayn kadish, kadishl- my little mourner- my son (the person who will say the Kaddish when I die)
zolst mir megulgl vern in a henglaykhter, bay tog zoltsu hengen un bay nakht zolstu brenen- You should be reincarnated as a chandelier (you should hang by day and burn by night)
All from Born to Kvetch, both the funniest and the most serious book I have ever read about Yiddish.
Coming up: Phrases that really should exist in English Part Two- Japanese English and Random Facts about Yiddish- someone please nag me if that turns into the usual promise of posts that I get distracted from…
