Are Yiddishisms strongly associated with some group or are they general to American English?
What are some words of Yiddish origin in English, for example some of the more common ones (at least to me):
- chutzpah
- dreck
- shmooze
- shmuck
- shtick
- spiel
- tuckus
- While
in theory there exists a significant correlation between particular social groups and their usage? Does belonging to particular social group mark these words? I already know that this is (supposedly) restricted mainly to American English. I personally understand many of these words but only rarely use them actively– I’m unsure if this is typical or not for most american speakers of (American) English.
Other expressions such as yiddishhip and yish, are used in other countries.
What is your recommendation for using terms in Canadian English?
I can see no alternative to Jews being the group introducing “Yiddishisms” by the “definition” and implication if by no other means.
Immigrants from other countries came from continental Europe and to America first. From there, their territory ceased. They were of lower social station but pushed upward in middle class bringing with them the Yiddish “language. From the lands where they live, not slums but which was most inaccessible to the aristocrats. ” Probably, the Middle class reflects the bulk of the current familiar usages. If it happened in urban centres the most likely the heaviest concentration were there and only a small number of people were working or living there.
How the language of Christianity spread into the mainstream? Is exposure the obvious answer?
