מיש־… מישקעבאַבעל

Mon, 05/08/2017 - 16:59

What do people think about this word? A new Yiddish word? In the US it's used quite often (mishkababel / mishkebabel), but when I search it in Yiddish almost nothing. Is this a new Yiddish word? Or a pseudo-Yiddish word (like "klotz" in American English)?

Etymologically, it makes sense--mish is a mix in German, and babel is a mix in Hebrew. So one could expect something like מישגעבבלט, but I don't find anything. Thoughts?

For me, this is a very common word I hear among US Jews.

Comments

Sun, 08/27/2017 - 11:45

I asked a friend in his 80's, and here's his comment:

"Ish kabibble" (NOT "mishkebabel") was, when I was a kid, still used by older people to mean "who cares?". It was the stage name of a comedian on the radio who took the name from a comic song of the vaudevile era, with a pseudo-Yiddish (or German?) title and refrain written "isch ga-bibble" or the like. I guess the comedian kept the phrase alive for some time, but "Well, ish kabibble", though I knew its meaning, sounded very silly and dated to me.

Sun, 08/27/2017 - 11:48

I'll add that the comedian referred to above is in Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ish_Kabibble

In my own experience, I think I've heard "ish kabibble" once or twice. Never "mish-kababel" in my experience.