Weekly Arizona citizen., 1880-12-04
JUpIsCH-DEUTsCH SLANG
The Lingo spoken by the Israelites of
 Baxter street and WhiteehaPeL
New York sun.I

in which they found a temporary shel-
 ter. This was particularly the case m
 Germany, where 8 large number ot Jewish families settled after their eX- pulsion from Spain and England. To
 the descendants of the original settlers
 there the German language was neither
 easy nor pleasant, Hebrew was the
 tongue spoken in their homes and
 synagogues, and, for long time, It
 was the only tongue of which they had
 any practical knowledge. But, when
 they began to trade with the Christ
 ians. they were forced to acquire some
 knowledge of their language and tO
 use it in business. At home, how
 ever. they continued to speak Hebrew or a smattering of Hebrew and Ger l man, which came Co be known, and is still known, as Judisch- Deutsch. Although among the educated
 classes of the Jews this patois has l long since fallen into dIsuse, the lower l classes still use it among themselves. | It is spoken in Baxter street and East | Broadway. as on the other side of the ] Atlantic it is spoken in Whtechapel
 and St. Mary Anne, and there are two | weekly papers published in Judisch- l Deutsch in New York. The better l class of Jews never use it unless it is | in the narration of some characteristic | Jewish story, or in the course of a | conversation, the subject of which
 they wish 10 conceal from the Gen. tiles.
 | Some of the wOrGs and idiOms of | the Judisch- patois are of pure | Hebrew, and others are neither He | brew nor German. Some of them have | been adopted into the thieves slang, | notably the word '' Ganof," meanin 2 a thief, and others have passed in a modified form into ordinary English | slang, as, for example, the word "totf,''
 which is a plain corruption of tue | Judisch -Deutsch 60 tOkaff, meaning
 a swell, and the word SC bilk, which
 is a corruption of the German "billig," meaning cheap. The expression, 60 Vie heisst;" which the low comedy l
 stage Jew invariably uses, is pure |
 German. meaning What does it |
 mean?' '' How is 1t called :' How?' |
 and it is a pet exclamation with the | class among whom the JudisCh- | Deutsch is stlll ID use.
 Among this class lie is always shcoram,' a Gentle woman or ser
 want girl is known as '' shicksah, Christian man is known as e. goy, and a Christian woman gOvah. Au impudent man is described as an
 aZoz pOmm, which is pure Hebrew
 for a face ot brass, ard the quality of
 impudence or cheek is characterized as
 .' chUtspah.' X greedy man is called
 d e. fresseT.' and one who eats pork Is
 described as a chOZzar-tresser,
 " choZzar being the Hebrew for pig just as one who eats other forbidden food is 8 '' trifa-fresseT,' ' tTifa ' being the Hebrew for unclean. A Jew who apostatiZcs is a ''meshum0d"
 and one who has been baptized is
 " gesehmOtt' A drunken man is said
 10 be a '' shiCker," a crazy man is " meshugnar,' and m ignorant man is q ugom Oretz," or a man of the
 earth.
 In the vocabulary of the lower classes of German-Jewish traders there is no word more frequently used than ' mechula, " which means bank rupt. With these people business is called " massOmOtOn, " and money is ( " meZummOn. A bargain is a mat zeah. and an Irishman is a {" bates ! mar" A religious holiday is yum tuf;" the holiday food Is vuntuf- dick" Synagogue is '' scule.' Any thing that is Jewish is 60 Yiddisch," " l and anything which is distinctivelY 1 Christian is Goyim-nacbass. A phrase in common use is '' Mach ShabbOs davou, which means literal lv. .. Make Sabbath therefor It is used as a sort of cOngratulation or greeting in reply to the communica- ! tion of good news. 60 MazoltOv,h ( meaning good luck, is sometimes used in the same way. A very com { mon greeting is e Sholem laychem,' [ which is a corruption of the pure He ( brew, '' SharlOm ngOlaychem, meaning Peace be with you
 Prejudice against the Jews is de- scribed in J Judisch- Deutsch as "rishus,' l and Jew hater is called a "rOsher, y literally a hater. A beggar is a
 " schnorrer,n g a divorce is a ghet, an engagement is a shidduch, a bridegroom is chosen, and 8 bride a "kolla" When a Baxter street Jew wants to utter terrible curse or a makah," as he might call It, he turns to his enemy and exclaims,
 May you take a meesa- -mashiuna,' that is, "May you have a sudden death, " and this IS the worst curse he can pronounce.
 Without Q knowledge of Judisch Deutsch, it is impossible Co under staud or appreciate the characteristic wit of the lower order of Jews, wit such as Kladderadatsch used Co de- pict so admirably. It depends quite as much upon the language employed as upon the incident related, for there is probably not a known language f winch affords as much opportunity for ieux de mOts and doubles enten- s dres as this mOngrel patOis. The way in which it is used can hardly be bet ter illustrated than by the following true RneCdOte:
 While the original Barney Aaron, the famous Nestor of the English prize ring, was at the zenith of his glory, a benefit was arranged for the Jews Hospital, Lower NOrwood, to take place at the Surrey Theatre, London. The house was crowded with the very lowest kind of London Jews, people who had seldom, if ever before, been inside of a theatre. They turned out upon this occasion tO kill ! two birds with one shilling-to have : a nights fun and to help a "yIddisch' } charity. The principal actress of the evening was Miss Mccarthy, then i great favOrite on the London boards. [ Upon her first entrance, the audience, who had applauded every one that had preceded her, were so we'll pleased that they hOwled and stamped until the walls fairly shook This so dis the lady that she forgot her lines for the moment. Then they be- gun to hiss as loudly as they had