Yiddish Word of the Day

(Didn’t know we had one, did you? HAH!)

So, there I was, writing about the Precedent and I stumble across this:

bupkes

Which means this:

Not a word for polite company. Bubkes or bobkes may be related to the Polish word for “beans”, but it really means “goat droppings” or “horse droppings.” It’s often used by American Jews for “trivial, worthless, useless, a ridiculously small amount” – less than nothing, so to speak. “After all the work I did, I got bupkes!”

Man, it doesn’t get any better than that in the descriptive sense.

“Bubkes” Obama works…well, normally I’d say “for” me, but we all know that’s a lie.

4 Responses to “Yiddish Word of the Day”

1. Skyler says:

   December 15, 2009 at 10:07 am

   Well, beans do look like goat droppings, but I’m guessing that goat droppings taste better. Beans are pretty vile, so that’s not saying much.

2. Ave says:

   December 15, 2009 at 10:29 am

   Shmutz, shmuck, spiel, putz! We should all be thankful for Yiddish.

3. Cullen says:

   December 15, 2009 at 12:12 pm

   So that’s what the B in B+ stands for.

4. Dave E. says:

   December 15, 2009 at 7:56 pm

   Cullen-Haha, bubkes plus. That’s perfect. Though I think it’s the plus that gives it that special ironic touch.