Nationality: American

Age: 21

Occupation: Student 

Residence: Orange County, CA, USA

Date: 02/22/2025 

Primary Language: English

Language: Yiddish

Description: 

“Basically, there’s a lot of like Yiddish things that we use in my family…we’ve used forever and ever and ever, and it just like, kind of continue. But I think it’s interesting that I use them because obviously, like, I don’t live my family anymore, whatever. Um…one of the things that I say all the time is Schmutz. S-c-h-m-u-t-z. Schmutz. Which basically means like…it’s like a kind of way of saying, like, you have shit on you. Like you have schmutz on you, which basically means like…like dirt. Usually, when I use it, it’s something that’s a little more like, um…lasting. Like if I get like pasta sauce on me, I go:

‘I have schmutz on me.’ If I got like, if I had like a leaf on me that I could like, brush off, you wouldn’t necessarily say that because it’s not something that’s, like, detrimental to your clothing or whatever.”

Subject’s opinion: 

Interviewer: Do you know where [the phrase] originated?

Subject: In Yiddish. Like…it’s been a term that’s been used…I’m pretty sure it’s actually a word in Yiddish, but I think it’s very Americanized. Not like Americanized…but it’s like, very like American Jew…usage. 

Interviewer: Do you know what it literally translates to? 

Subject: No…but that’s, I think, what’s interesting about it. A lot of the Yiddish words that we use, I don’t know exactly what they mean. Like “schvitzing” is sweating. “Schmear” is like a…a schmear! Like, I can’t even explain that. It’s just like a schmear…a lot of what Yiddish is, it’s like…like, schvitzing is like a lot of like, sch-vit-zing. It’s like a lot of hard letters for something that’s kind of gross. Like, you’re sweating. Schvitzing It’s kind of disgusting. Like, you go to the Schwitz is what you say if you go to the sauna. 

Analysis:  The subject’s Jewish-American background brings much complexity to the consideration of these words as folk tradition. On one hand, they are real words rooted in multiple linguistic origins, mainly Yiddish as well as German. On the other hand, based on the subject’s description, these words have taken on a life of their own in the American social context. The subject laid emphasis on the exclusivity of these words’ usage and how they’re only a shared lingo between her, her sister, and her parents. Since the subject does not speak Yiddish, she only offered her opinion on the phonetic profile of these words and its role in their effectiveness. In this context, the use of these words becomes a social performance, particularly in the special paralinguistic patterns of voice quality and vocalization as well as how they appeal to tradition—a way to stay in touch with one’s roots in a language that pulls from a greater realm of cultural heritage.