Morning journal and courier., 1880-11-19
JudiSch-Deutsch Slang.
The Lingo Spoken by the Israelites o1
 Baxter Street and WhitechapeI.

The Lingo Spoken by the Israelites of
 Baxter Street and WhitechapeI.
 [From the New York Sum-
 During the long years of oppression under which they suffered in continental Europe the Jews found themselves ostracised from Gentile society to such degree that they had neither the opportunity nor the inclina- tion to master the vernacular of the coun- tries in which they found temporary shel- ter. This was particularly the case in Ger many, where a large number of Jewish fami- lies settled after their expulsion from Spain and England. To the descendants of the or iginal 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 Christians they were forced to acquire some knowledge of their language and to use 1t in business At home, however, they continu- ed to speak Hebrew or smatterlng of He brew and German, which came to be known, and is still known, as Judisch Deutch.
 Although among the educated classes of the Jews this patois has long since fallen into disuse the lower classes still use it among themselves It is spoken in Baxter street and East Broadway, as. on the other side of the Atlantic, it isi in Whitechapel and St. Mary Axe, and there are two weekly papers pub lished in Judisch-D Deutsch in New York. The better class of Jews never use 1t unless it Is in the narration of some coaracteristic Jewish story, or in the course of a conversa- tion the subject of which they wish to con- ceal from Gentiles.
 Some of the words and ,idioms of the Ju- disch-D -Deutsch patois are of pure Hebrew, and others have been adopted into the thieves slang, notably the word "ganof," meaning a thief, and others passed in a modified form into ordinary English slang, as, for example, the word e'totf, :" which is plain corruption of the Judisch- -Deutsch t'tokatf,' meaning swell and the word 'tbilk," which is cor ruption of the German "billig,'' meaning cheap The expression ''Wie heisst '" which the low comedy stage Jew invariably uses, Is pure German, meaning "What does it mean ?" ssHow is it called" ''How ?" and it is a pet exclamation with the class among whom the Judisch- Deutsch is still in use.
 Among this class 8 lie is always Ia scho- ram," Gentle woman or a servant girl is known as "a shicksah," a Christian man is ia goy," and Christian woman ''a goyah." An impudent man is described as an sazoz ponim, {" which is pure Hebrew for face of brass, and the quality of impotence or cheek is characterized as "chutspah." A greedy man is called dresser" and one who eats pork is described as & "chozzar-fresser, sschozzar'' being the Hebrew for pig, just as one who eats other forbidden food is a ''trifa- fresser,n t'trisa'' being the Hebrew for un- clean A Jew who apostatizes is ''meshu- mac, ;" and one who has been baptized is a zapeschmott '' drunken man is said to be ssshicker," 1" crazy man is 'snleshugnar," and an ignorant man is a ''ugom oretz," or man of the earth.
 In the vocabulary of the lower classes of German-Jewish traders there is no word more frequently used than s' mechula, which means bankrupt With these people business is called ssmassomoton, y and money is stmezummon." A bargain is ''matzeah, !" and an Irishman is tfbatesmar." A relig- ious holiday is '.yuntuf ;" the holiday food is tsyuntuf- dick ? Synagogue is ''schule, :" anything which is Jewish is q sYiddisch," !" and anything which is distinctiyely Christian is