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Observation

May 24, 2017

Some Yiddish Words Jump into American English Quickly. Others Take Much Longer.

By Philologos

The process results from, in equal measure, Jewish separateness and Jewish assimilation.

Got a question for Philologos? Ask him directly at philologos@mosaicmagazine.com.

Bertrand Horwitz writes from Asheville, North Carolina:

Your recent discussion of how the Yiddish-derived word “noodge” became incorporated in American-Jewish English and went from there to general American English reminds me of another germinating Yiddish word that suddenly appeared on national TV during the Trump-Clinton-Russia imbroglio: mishigas. Is its derivation Hebrew, Slavic, or German?

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