Friday, September 16, 2005

OY VEY!

Liz Smith writes in today's column
JENNIFER ANISTON has mended from the tzimmes surrounding her divorce from Brad Pitt
I'm certainly no Yiddish expert, but even I know that she means "tsouris," not "tzimmes." "Tsouris" means troubles. "Tzimmes" is something you eat, made up of things like stewed carrots, honey, raisins, and prunes.

This reminds me of a former colleague of my wife's who made an even worse mistake. She meant to say "futz around" (meaning to mess or fool around--it's not really Yiddish). But she said "putz around." "Putz" is a very offensive, almost obscene word for penis.

Liz, everyone, leave the Yiddish to people who really know it.

1 comment:

Ben said...

Hate to say it, but in Yiddish you can actually use the word "tsimes" to mean a fuss, though I've never heard it used that way in English.

But "putzing around" is flat out wrong, and pretty funny.