Harlan Ellison - Approaching Oblivion - Road Signs On the Treadmill Toward Tomorrow

shtumie (shtoom'-ie) Another word like schlemiel, but more offhand, less significant; the word you use to bat away a gnat

shtup (shtoooopp) Puck.

shtupping (shtoooopp'-ing) Fucking.

tallis (tahll'-iss) Prayer shawl, used by males at prayer at religious services.

Talmud (tol'-mud) A massive and monumental compendium of sixty-three books: the learned debates, dialogues, conclusions, commentaries, etc., of the scholars who, for over a thousand years interpreted the Torah, the first five books in the Bible, also known as the Five Books of Moses. The Talmud is not the Bible, it is not the Old Testament. It is not meant to be read, but to be studied.

t'fillin (te-fill'-in) Phylacteries worn during morning prayers by orthodox males past the age of Bar Mitzvah.

Tisha B'ab (tish'-a bawve) “The blackest day in the Jewish calendar.” Usually falls during August, climaxing nine days of mourning during which meat is not eaten and marriages are not performed. Commemorates both the First (586 D.C.) and Second (A.D. 70) destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. A deadly day of sorrow.

tsuris (tsoo'-riss) Troubles.

tuchis (too'-chhhuss) The backside, the buttocks, your ass.

tummel (tu'-m l), tummeler (toohm'-eh-lure) Noise, commotion, noisy disorder. One who creates a lot of noise but accomplishes little; a funmaker, a live wire, a clown, the “life of the party.” You know when Jerry Lewis does a talk show and he starts eating the draperies and screaming and running so much you change the channel? He's tummeling.

varf (varff) To puke. Brechh.

yarmulkah (yahr'-ml-keh) The skullcap worn by observing Jewish males.

yeshiva (yeh-shee'-vah) A rabbinical college or seminary.

yorzeit (yawr'-tzite) The anniversary of someone's death, on which candles are lit and an annual prayer is said.

zetz (zets) A strong blow or punch.

Zsouchmoid (zoochhhhh'-moid) A native of Theta 996 :VI, Cluster Messier 3 in Canes Venatici, like Evsise. (See illustration.)

(NOTE: the author wishes to give credit where due. The Yiddish words are mine, they come out of my childhood and my heritage, but some of the definitions have been adapted and based on those in Leo Rosten's marvelous and utterly indispensable sourcebook, The Joys of Yiddish, published by McGraw-Hill, which I urge you to rush out and buy, simply as good reading.)