If You Can't Say Anything Nice, Say It in Yiddish: The Book of Yiddish Insults and Curses » (Special Value)

You haven’t been really insulted until you’ve been cursed at in Yiddish. One of the most colorful and toothsome languages ever spoken, Yiddish has survived in the toughest of circumstances—and it’s partly due to its ability to say what’s on its mind, like it or not. Harsh to the point of cruelty (well, where to begin?), Yiddish curses can also add a touch of sweetness to the bitter pill: A vecher balkon dir in kop (May a soft balcony fall on your head.). You don’t agree? Gai bareh di vantsen (Go bother the bedbugs).

Lita Epstein offers a crash course in the Yiddish gift for vivid invective. Along the way, you’ll learn a bit about the language itself (its history, pronounciation, and travels) and gain access to its lethal power. Humor is, of course, a frequent accomplice (the better to kill you with, mein kind) and the sheer range of words—for goof-offs, screw-ups, gossip-mongers and evil-doers—will demonstrate how keen observation (not to mention hair-splitting) works through the Yiddish language to better identify an intended target. The book also provides two generous glossaries of phrases—to take you from English to Yiddish and back again.

So think, dumkop. Even if you could never tell a shlemiel from a shlemazel, or a kvetcher from a yenta before, you’ll now be able to proudly shout: Migulgl zol er vern in a henglaykhter, by tag zol er hengen, un by nakht zol er brenen. (He should be transformed into a chandelier, to hang by day and to burn by night.)