July 15, 2008, - 5:05 pm
HOprah Watch Language Studies: Oprah Invented Yiddish!
By Debbie Schlussel
It was bad enough when Al Gore claimed he invented the Internet. But, now, Oprah claims she created Yiddish–the German-Hebrew hybrid spoken by most Jews in Europe in the early 20th Century and the centuries prior.
Today–in a show that’s a re-run–Oprah Winfrey claims she invented the word “Shlumpedinka,” a word she uses to describe a sloppily dressed person. In a pretty conceited segment (and isn’t the whole show and Oprah enterprise a giant monument to the conceit that is Oprah?), Oprah showed various clips of herself using the word “Shlumpedinka” over the years, and then she repeatedly said these, “I made up the word,” “I don’t remember when I made up the word,” I don’t know how I came up with the word, I just invented it.”
Yup, a regular genius, this one. And a plagiarist.
In fact, Oprah never invented any such word. She ain’t that smart. The word “schlumpy” or “shlumpy” has been in usage in the common American vernacular since well before Oprah was a known personality. It’s what is known as “Yinglish” or a “Yiddishism,” both of which mean Yiddish slang that is a mixture of Yiddish and English. The word–which means sloppy, slovenly, or coarse in appearance or behavior/personality–comes from the Yiddish world Zhlub, often pronounced Schlub (to the lazy tongue), which has the same definition as Schlumpy.
That Oprah adds the “dinka” part to the end of it, is also not her invention, as many Jews–like my grandparents from Poland–who also spoke Polish, used “ka” or “inka” as suffixes to a an adjective to make it into a noun descriptor. For example, my late maternal grandfather always called leftist U.S. Senator Carl Levin–for whom he would never vote (nor would I)–a “linka,” which means leftist.
Though she would now like us to think she’s so funny and creative and take credit for the Yiddish language, in fact Oprah did NOT invent the world Shlumpedinka, just as she did not do a host of other things for which she would like to take credit in America. Oprah surrounds herself with a number of left-wing Jewish associates–Jews who hate Judaism and Israel even more than Oprah does. That’s probably where she heard and from which she appropriated the term.
Unlike Oprah’s claim, Shlumpedinka is like another word that became common to the Jews in America, and became a fancy word in the English vernacular: copacetic (also, copasetic). The word came from the fact that many Jewish immigrants in New York in the early 1900s used a Hebrew term, which was changed into American slang. The Hebrew phrase, “Kol B’Seder,” meaning “everything’s in order” or “everything’s okay,” was not properly heard or pronounced by many non-Jews in the New York area. They turned it into “copacetic,” as in everything is “copacetic,” meaning everything is okay.
That’s often how the English language evolves in America. But it ain’t got nothin’ to do with the self-anointed new female Webster and Yiddish plagiarist.
So, to sum up:
* Al Gore–the Internet;
* Oprah–Yiddish . . . and
* “Shlumpedinka,” the term that Oprah falsely claims as her invention, but which best describes the horrid values she’s projected onto America and the rest of the world: slovenly, unkempt, boorish, and disgusting.
Again, girl ain’t no wordsmith.
What’s next? Will Hussein increase his use of Yiddish terms to show how close and copacetic he is with the Jewish people? If I didn’t know better, I’d think maybe Oprah is a trial run.
c f on July 15, 2008 at 6:05 pm