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Just Say Nu - a cross between Henry Beard's Latin for All Occasions and Ben Schott's Schott's Original Miscellany, the book is a practical guide to using Yiddish words and expressions in day-to-day situations. Along with enough grammar to enable readers to put together a comprehensible sentence and avoid embarrassing mistakes, Wex also explains the five most useful Yiddish words – shoyn, nu, epes, takeh, and nebakh – what they mean, how and when to use them, and how they can be used to conduct an entire conversation without anybody ever suspecting that the reader doesn’t have the vaguest idea of what anyone is actually saying. Readers will learn how to shmooze their way through such activities as meeting and greeting; eating and drinking; praising and finding fault; maintaining personal hygiene; going to the doctor; driving; parenting; getting horoscopes; committing crimes; going to singles bars; having sex; talking politics and talking trash.
Now that Stephen Colbert, a Catholic from South Carolina and host of the "Colbert Report," is using Yiddish to wish viewers a bright and happy Chanukah, people have finally started to realize that there’s nothing in the world that can’t be improved by translating it into Yiddish. Wex’s book is the one that’s going to show them how.
"Words like "shmooze" and "shlep" have long been part of New York City's lingua franca, thanks to an influx of European Jewish immigrants here in the early 20th century. More than just a dictionary, Wex's book waxes on the possible Biblical origins of certain words and offers useful phrases as well. The next hot day, try saying: "Nisht azoy hays vee faykht." (It's not the heat; it's the humidity." Wex's parents must be kvelling." Billy Heller, New York Post Required Reading column
"A colorful, uncensored guide to the idiomatic use of Yiddish" - Publisher's Weekly
Visit Michael Wex's website at: Michael Wex
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