Meanings

kibbitz (kih bits) To offer unwanted advice. Frequently a cause of justified homicide. For instance, it's ten below zero on a lonely road and you're looking under the hood of your stalled automobile, when your wife says, "I told you last September we needed a new car."

shmei (shmy) To gossip, but with relish. You may keep your secretary late every night, and people will gossip. But when the boss is discovered with the receptionist in the utility closet, ah, that's something to SHMEI about.

shtop (shtawp) To stuff until bursting. A rich neighbor woman SHTOPs her house with furniture. And - if that same woman is promiscuous - you might say she SHTOPS!

fumfer (foom fur), To stutter; to act hesitantly as though reluctant to get to the point. No matter what your politics, you must admit that President George W. Bush FUMFERS.

grepps (greps) To belch. But, as with most every common verb in Yiddish, to do so with deep, dramatic meaning. To belch with style.

bupkeh (boop keh) To chatter and cluck like a chicken. If a woman spends forty minutes in the powder room, she's BUPKEHING. If a man does, he's in trouble.

yentz (yents) To sharp somebody, especially in business. To YENTZ Is not necessarily dishonest. I am reminded of a saying familiar to retail merchants in central Pennsylvania: "We will not cheat thee, but we will do our best to outwit thee." That's Quaker talk for "What's the fun of being in business if you can't YENTZ a little?"