10 Yiddish Words to Get You Through This Quarantine

10 Yiddish Words to Get You Through This Quarantine (and you don’t have to be Jewish)

We’ve been self-quarantining for 40-plus days and, quite frankly, we’re running out of steam.   Here’s some helpful Yiddish vocabulary to help describe our current  situation….

1. Tsedrayte

adj. (tsuh-DRATE) All mixed up, confused.

Before the Covid-19 virus, tsedrayte meant we couldn’t remember if we promised to meet a friend for lunch on  Thursday or Friday. Now we don’t know what day of the week it is. These  days, just getting the mail makes us tsedrayte. Do we leave  the letters on the floor for 24 hours? Do we wipe the package before we  put it on the floor or wash our hands and then wipe the package? And  what do we do after we open it?

2. Shpilkes

(SHPILL-kiss) Impatience, restlessness.

Before Covid-19,  when our young kids had “ants in their pants,” we’d tell them to go  outside and play. Now, however, we have to mask them up first, and watch  them carefully so they stay six feet away from all the other kids who  are also trying to get their shpilkes out. We used to go out to a yoga class; now when our little ones have shpilkes, we watch Cosmic Kids Yoga and do downward facing dogs right along with them.

3. Shlub

n. (SHLUB) A slob; some who dresses sloppily.

All this self-quarantining has made shlubs even shlubbier.  Sweatpants and torn T-shirts have gone from weekend wear to all day,  everyday wear — unless you’re one of those people who dons business  casual from the waist up for your Zoom conference calls. If we’ve  learned any fashion sense while being self-quarantined, it’s that a bra is optional.

4. Pulkes

pl. n. (PULL-keys) Thighs.

The word usually refers to cute, chubby baby thighs, but it can also mean those belonging to poultry. And with all the freezer diving we’re doing, we’ve discovered and eaten our fair share of pulkes in the last month. We’re counting the days till we can swap out our  sweatpants for shorts and attend a summer barbecue, but we’re not  certain our pulkes will be ready for public viewing after all we’ve eaten.

5. Sekhel

n. (SEH-khul) Common sense; good judgment.

Advice used to flow downstream. Our parents would nag us: “Have a little sekhel;  do you really have to fly when you’re pregnant?” Now the tables have  turned and we nag our parents: “Wash your hands. Wear a mask. You’re going to the supermarket? You’re old. Stay home!” And our kids? They have the computer sekhel we need: They’ve taught us how to complete the online school attendance  form and how to limit our Facebook posts to “friends only” so we don’t  embarrass them in front of “the whole world!” They’ve also taught us  that there’s nothing wrong with eating ice cream twice a day.

6. Eyngeshparter

n. (AYN-guh-shpar-ter) A stubborn person; someone who cannot be convinced with logic.

These  are the people who are protesting to end the shutdown before it’s safe,  ordering “cures” on the Internet, and claiming the pandemic is all a  hoax.

7. Bubkes

n. (BUP-kiss) Literally beans, nothing.

Something that’s worthless or that falls short of expectations. In this new normal, we’re getting used to bubkes in the toilet paper aisle, bubkes in our fresh vegetable drawer, and bubkes in our checking account.

8. Ongeblozen

adj. (un-geh-BLUH-zin) Sulky, pouty; a sourpuss.

Our kids used to get ongeblozzen when we said we couldn’t go out for pizza. Now everyone’s ongeblozzen  because we spent all afternoon making dough from scratch... and we  didn’t have the right kind of cheese. “It tastes funny. It doesn’t taste  like Panzone’s pizza. Why can’t we go to Panzone’s?”

9. Tsuris

n. (TSORE-iss) troubles and worries; problems.

We  can’t help worrying when our sister tells us she had a suspicious  mammogram or our son hints that someone bullied him in school. But these  days, instead of worrying about illness or money or school or our family or the future — we’re worried about all of it. Tsuris has gone from personal to universal.

10. Oy

int. (OY)

Perhaps the most popular Yiddish expression, oy conveys  dozens of emotions, from surprise, joy, and relief to pain, fear and  grief. Bubbe Mitzi used to say that just groaning “a good oy” could make you feel better.   So give a good oy, tie the  shmata on your face — be sure to cover your mouth and your nose!