The Joys of Yiddish is a lexicon of common words and phrases in the Yiddish language, primarily focusing on those words that had become known to speakers of American English due to the influence of American Jews. It was originally published in 1968 by Leo Rosten. A lexicon is a list of words together with additional word-specific information, i. ... Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ... American English or U.S. English is the diverse form of the English language used mostly in the United States of America. ... A Jewish American (also commonly American Jew) is an American (a citizen of the United States) of Jewish descent who maintains a connection to the Jewish community, either through actively practicing Judaism or through cultural and historical affiliation. ... 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... Leo Calvin Rosten (April 11, 1908–February 19, 1997) was an American teacher, academic and humorist best remembered for his stories about the night-school prodigy Hyman Kaplan (first published in the New Yorker in the 1930s, and later reprinted in two volumes—The Education of H*Y*M*A...

The book distinguished itself by how it explained the meaning of the Yiddish words and phrases: almost every entry was illustrated by a joke. This made the book not only a useful reference, but also a treasured collection of Jewish humor. A joke is a short story or short series of words spoken or communicated with the intent of being laughed at or found humorous by the listener or reader. ... Jewish humour is a style of humour that involves anecdotal humour rather than topical humour. ...

As is inevitable with any book that references popular culture, it quickly became dated due to the dramatic changes that American culture (and Jewish-American culture) underwent over the next 30 years. In 2001, a new edition of the book was published. Titled The New Joys of Yiddish, it was revised by Lawrence Bush, with copious footnotes added to clarify passages that had become outdated. Some material was also rearranged. Popular culture, or pop culture, is the vernacular (peoples) culture that prevails in a modern society. ... Culture refers to the customs, arts, attitudes, institutions, and other traits that characterize a particular society or nation. ... 2001 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Lawrence Bush is author of six books of Jewish fiction and non-fiction and most recently provided updating and commentary for the millennial edition of Leo Rostens classic, The Joy of Yiddish. ... Note: See also Wikipedia:Cite sources This is Wikipedia:Manual of Style :: Footnotes; discussion is being continued at Footnote2 New Proposed Footnote format Format All footnotes (text that for clarity or conciseness should not be inline) should be of the following form. ...

References in popular culture

In 1998, Charles Schumer and Al D'Amato were running for the position of senior United States Senator representing New York. During the race, D'Amato referred to Schumer as a putzhead. The New York Times referenced the entry for putz in The Joy of Yiddish and maintained that the phrase did not merely mean "fool", as D'Amato insisted, but was significantly more pejorative. Based on that entry, a better translation might be "dickhead". 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Charles Ellis Chuck Schumer (born November 23, 1950) is the senior Senator from the state of New York and a member of the Democratic Party. ... The United States Senate is the upper house of the U.S. Congress, smaller than the United States House of Representatives. ... State nickname: Empire State Other U.S. States Capital Albany Largest city New York Governor George Pataki Official languages None Area 141,205 km² (27th)  - Land 122,409 km²  - Water 18,795 km² (13. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

D'Amato ended up losing the race: some observers credit this incident with costing him the election.

See also

• Yinglish