It’s truly amazing how long it takes till you really understand your grandfather or at least a part of him, you took for granted.

Since joining the Jewish Light, I’ve reflected on my own Jewish experience growing up, and part of that was the Yiddish, my grandparents would use, particularly my maternal grandparents, Mama and Baba. Both would use Yiddish on occasion, and not knowing really what they were saying, I just laughed at how funny they sounded. But some of the words and phrases stuck in my head, and today I stumbled onto something on social media that gave me a rush of memories.

It was the first word Zol and the last word boykh that I remember. Could it be possible that this was the Yiddish my Baba was saying? No way to know for sure, but it made me wonder more about Yiddish, and indeed it’s loaded with insults or “curses” and from the way, Baba would talk to the TV when his Kansas City Chiefs were losing, it’s very very likely he was insulting or cursing someone, and good.

Do you remember something your Bubbe or Zayde used to say? If so, please share it with us and we’ll continue with this new series “The funny Yiddish things Bubbe/Zayde said.” Email me at [email protected]

Here’s another one to get us kicked off: