My previous Yiddish post discussed words that have made it to mainstream English. Here are a few more. Sometimes there are no words in English that get the gist of things as well as Yiddish.
Bisel – it means a little. “Add some flour to the dough, just a bisel.”
Gezunt – generally, this word means healthy. But an example of it’s use in the kitchen would be “And she roasted a gezunt chicken – not a scrawny little bird, but a gezunt one!” And you’d know the person saying this meant a big, plump, healthy bird.
Fress - this one means to eat a lot, enthusiastically. “Fress! There’s plenty! Dig in!”
Shmatte – literally means a rag. No kitchen can be without shmattes. “I’ve spilled some wine! Toss me a shmatte!”
Shmutz – dirt. “Wipe the shmutz off the table before you set it!”
We haven’t even touched on foods themselves that have Yiddish roots. That’ll be for another time.
What people are saying…