Test Your Yiddish Skills (2)

Instructions:

• Click the dot next to each answer you think is correct.
• If you check the wrong answer, simply click the correct one to change it.
• When finished, enter your name and click the "Submit" button.
• Your answers will be checked and your score will appear on a new page where you can see how you did.

1. Aunt Sophie is being her annoying self, as usual, and you're fed up. You tell her, "Stop kvetching!" What have you told her to stop doing?

A. Pacing around
B. Gossiping
C. Complaining
D. Yelling

2. Herman is cut off in traffic by an erratic driver. Instead of using a typical American gesture, he yells, "Vaksen ze ve a tsibble mit de kopin dreid!" What old Yiddish curse is he using?

A. "Get sick with cholera and die!"
B. "Grow like an onion with your head in the dirt!"
C. "Trouble should always hit your head!"
D. "Your head should never get a good night's sleep!"

3. An old Jewish man is testifying in front of a judge, and the judge asks how old he is. The man refuses to answer. This goes on for a while before a lawyer understands what is going on. He turns to the old man and says, "Keinahora, how old are you?" The man immediately responds, "85." What did the lawyer say?

A. "You can say it to me, how old are you?"
B. "Don't be embarrassed now, how old are you?"
C. "To save you trouble, how old are you?"
D. "Not to jinx it, how old are you?"

4. On January first, what would people usually say at midnight?

A. "Es tut mir leyd!"
B. "A gliklekhn nay-yor!"
C. "Gai strasheh di vantzen!"
D. "Gai in der klozet!"

5. All of the following have the general meaning of "crazy" except

A. nukshleper
B. mashugga
C. ritch in kop
D. tsedrait

6. Letty Cottin Pogrebin ("Deborah, Golda, & Me") wrote that her mother had a "knippel." What did she have?

A. a long shawl
B. a traditional Jewish woman's wig
C. money kept tied in a handkerchief
D. a secret purse

7. A souvenir or other knick-knack is a

A. becher
B. chachma
C. tchotchke
D. tinef

8. David M. Bader ("Haikus for Jews: for You, a Little Wisdom") said, "Yiddish has no word for 'golf' but it has 273 different ways to complain about ..." what?

A. di makheteneste
B. lower back pain
C. one's business
D. di rebetsn

9. Bennie's mother, after lecturing him yet again about the importance of doing well is school, sighed and said, "Ah, aroysgevorfeneh verter." She was thinking,

A. "My words will come back to haunt him."
B. "I'm wasting my breath."
C. "He never listens."
D. "I need to be more convincing."

10. The opposite of a mitzvah is

A. an aydem
B. a mechuleh
C. a galut
D. an averah