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1. oomis
   Member

   OK, my Yiddish is ah zei shvach, to say the least. Someone, PLEASE help me settle a mild difference of opinion. Does anyone know what the word (and if it is a bad one, please be moichel me in advance, because I am ignorant about it)"shfanerei" means? My mother O"H used that expression in the context of being a "potpourri" of food, a little bit of everything in the salad, for example.

   A relative of mine recently told her very dear mother-in-law who was with her for yom tov, that she wanted to send her home with a Shfanerei of the food she had cooked for Shavuos. Her MIL immediately made a mock angry face (she was NOT angry in the slightest), and said, "You want to send me home with food for pigs????" Apparently, she thinks the word is "Shvinerei" from "swine." So now, we think that if this is so, that the person who first taught my mom the word "Shfanerei," was pulling her leg. Can anyone shed light on this crucial and sholom-bayis destroying issue? :(

   Are there two similar-sounding words, one with a nice connotation, and the other, not-so-nice?

   Posted 1 year ago #

2. oomis
   Member

   What? Nothin'? Nobody speaks Yiddish here all of a sudden?

   Posted 1 year ago #

3. kollel_wife
   Member

   Funny - but when I grew up, a similar word, with similar meaning was used.

   Chazerei - meant nosh, but stems from the word, chazer (in yiddish), chazir - in Hebrew, a pig.

   In English people will say - don't be piggish.

   I don't know the word above, but maybe it's similar.

   Posted 1 year ago #

4. ItcheSrulik
   Formerly college sheigetz. Now ger.

   Never heard that one.

   Posted 1 year ago #

5. SaysMe
   O pen, says me

   if u spell it in hebrew letters, i can look it up in my handy dandy yiddish dictionary

   Posted 1 year ago #

6. haifagirl
   Chief of Grammar Enforcement Commandos

   Chazerei - meant nosh, but stems from the word, chazer (in yiddish), chazir - in Hebrew, a pig.

   That's the word I grew up with, too.

   Posted 1 year ago #

7. oomis
   Member

   my mom O"H would make a huge salad with a gazillion veggies and call it a shfanerei. Kind of like 'the kitchen sink" salad. A little bit of everything. But apparently it means something else...

   Posted 1 year ago #

8. bpt
   never caustic

   Sorry, I've been taking a "blog break", in deference to the Citifield Afisa, so I did not see this until today.

   I have not heard that word in particular, but if I had to guess, I would think the word was possibly "Shaferei" (as opposed to Shfanerei.

   If thats the word, it might be a derivative of shaf, which would imply a pantry or cabinet (hence the use to denote a whole potpourri of goods).

   Posted 1 year ago #

9. oomis
   Member

   BPT, you might be on to something. I'll run it by the person who asked me about this.

   Posted 1 year ago #

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