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DICTIONARY OF BASIC YIDDISH (Literal translations in RED)

MAYCHAIM (pleasures) OF DELICACIES

KREPLACH meat or cheese dumpling
Kosher style ravioli
KNUBBLE garlic
Chlorophyll's press agent
CHRANE horseradish
A Jewish eye-opener
KNADEL matzo meal dumpling
Delayed atom bomb
RETACH radish
Encore
TSIBELES onions
All this and herring, too

FAMILY LIFE

MISHPOCHEN extended family
Trouble makers
M'CHOOTEN in-law
Ringleader
KANE EISHORREH [unknown]
Tommy Manville
VOS HOB ICH DOS GEDAFT "What have I done to deserve this?"
Triplets
NACHES great pleasure
Lunch at Art's
ZADEH grandfather
Grandchild's piggy bank
GEDULT patience
Getting a teenager off the phone
HACKEN A TCHAINICH talk nonsense
So I sez, so she sez, so I sez

TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS

A MICKVEH a ritual bath
A kosher aquacade
A SHOICKET kosher animal slaughterer
A cut-throat
A SHANEH GELECHTER a hearty laugh
Belching on Yom Kippur
A GONSER KNOCHER a real show-off
A Monday morning quarterback
KLOPPEN KOP ON VANT beating your head against the wall
Asking the landlord to paint
A SIMCHEH cause for celebration
Marrying off your last daughter
A FARSHLEPTEH KRENK a chronic ailment
Filling out your own income tax form
A DREY KOP a scatterbrain; literally "a turn-head"
A hairdresser
MOZEL good luck
That which only a competitor possesses
FARBLUNDJET really lost
A kosher butcher in Ireland
TAKEH? really?
A sandwich at Art's
L'CHAIM "to life!"
Famous last words
A SCHICKER a drunkard
A Jewish wino
A FARGENIGEN a delight
A date with Elizabeth Taylor
HELPHEN VIE A TOTTEN BANKE not help at all; not work
Talking yourself out of a traffic ticket
PAYGAH [unknown]
Our competitor's customers
UNTER-FEUHRER best man
Undertaker
MITZVEH good deed
Liking your wife's new hairdo
REBITZEN wife of a rabbi
Rabbi's brain trust
A CHOOPEH a wedding canopy
Gallows
OI VAY "woe is me"
April 15th
KINDER children
Drainage ditches
BRIS circumcision
Getting tipped off

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