What's shamatta with you?
It's hysterical to hear my cousin J talk about the mishigas(1) down at the store. Or how she got babkes(2) for her birthday. She was born in NYC, but raised in the midwest and here in Dallas; which makes for an interesting accent. Her mother, my fathers sister, has a *very* strong NY accent, so it sounds completely normal coming from her. But to hear Yiddish words coming from this goyish(3) looking girl, it just seems wrong.
My grandmother and aunts would break into Yiddish for intervals of conversation that they didn't want us to understand, which led us to learn very criptic Yiddish, only the real basics. It's crappy, too. I mean, there was such a stigma against Jews for so long, that my grandparents never taught it to their kids, except for my dad's oldest sister who actually used it on a regular basis at work. That makes a whole generation of my mishpacha(4) Yiddishless. We know words, but that's pretty much it.
M has been trying to learn how to say certain things, which is hillarious! He is such a shagitz(5), at 6' 5" and 250 lbs, with red hair, my grandmother would crap herself to hear it. He pronounces the word shmata(6) "shamatta". So funny. So, I'm going to try to incorporate Yiddish into my daily life, just to sort of keep some tradition alive in this family. It's funny how many words are already there though:
Everyday Yiddish (and how to pronounce it, with examples)
shmuz (schmootz) - Uh oh! You got shmuz all over you from that crap you were eating!
khutspe (hootzpa) - You gotta lotta khutspe to give that baby her name!
kakameyme (cockamaymee) - Don't give me some kakameyme story about it either!
mazl-tov (mahzel-tov) - Moishe, you got the promotion! Mazl-tov!
nosh - Have a nosh now so you're not hungry in an hour.
mishmash - There's a whole mishmash of crap in here!
Interesting how so many words like these weave their way into society. M is trying hard with the Yiddish, which is adorable. I love it when people say the words in their Dallas drawl. Anyway, let me also give you the definitions for the ones I used above, so you too can be a Jew!
(1) craziness; (2) nothing; (3) non-Jewish; (4) family; (5) non-Jewish man; (6) rags, torn clothing.