The Joys of Yiddish - Words-Shmords

Here Rosten explains the tradition amongst Yiddish speakers of mocking a person or an object by attaching a sh or shm to the beginning of a word. For example 'Who said that? Charley? Charley-shmarley, what does he know?'

 

Taken from: The Joys of Yiddish
Author / Creator: Rosten, Leo
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Book Co, New York
Date: 1968
Copyright: © The British Library Board
Shelfmark: LEX.155