Here are some useful Yiddish words:
'Oy!' The definitive Yiddish expression. A mixture of distress, astonishment, resignation and several other inexpressible sentiments. Usage - Tom: "the client has a legacy program that consists of 250,000 lines of Smalltalk-80" You: "Oy!".
'Schmendrick'. Fool, know-nothing, usually ineffectual. Usage - Tom: "Ron said that doing it in Visual Basic would not be a problem" You: "you asked that schmendrick for his opinion?" (Variant: you may also respond "Oy!")
Kibitz. Now in reasonably widespread use. In yiddish applied rather flexibly. A chorus of discordant and inconsistent criticism and advice offered by spectators (kibitzers). Invaluable in reference to the work of university committees. "You will have to present your proposal to the teaching committee"; "That is just an opportunity for them to kibitz!").
Mensch. A 'man'. Somebody who does the 'right thing'. Usually implies generosity and moral rectitude. A term of high praise and respect. In modern usage can be applied to a woman. Example "She let them take credit for the work, making no reference to her contribution"; "She is a mensch".
Kibitzing, one might also say, happens a lot on blogs and Twitter and Facebook. Anyway the above are taken, two each, from Anthony Finkelstein's '10 Essential Yiddish Words for Computer Scientists' and '10 Essential Yiddish Words for Academics'. (Via.)
This post inaugurates a Jewish day at normblog. Not necessarily all-Jewish, but much-Jewish. 'Why?' you might either ask or wonder. Why not?
