Huge news: “The Nanny”‘s social media pages just shared show creator and star Fran Drescher’s guide to Yiddish words, and honestly, all I want is for the TV star to narrate an entire Yiddish-to-English dictionary. It’s perfect.
Drescher grew up Jewish in Queens, and she has shared with America some of the best Yiddishisms of her youth through her hit ’90s show “The Nanny.”
In these most recent social media videos, she’s dressed in her Fran Finest to celebrate “The Nanny” gaining over one million followers on TikTok. She reads out a list of Yiddish words and gives them her own personal definitions — which are, all in all, pretty on point.
“Bubbe, that’s like a grandma, a great grandma,” she says.
“Mensch, that’s a real person,” she says about the word we use to describe someone who does real good deeds and has a good heart, winking.
“Meshuggana, that’s people that are nuts,” she translates plainly (it could also be things or sayings that are nuts).
“Tchotchkes, that’s all the bric-a-brac in your house,” she says about one of my personal favorite Yiddish words.
“Pitzeleh, those are like little kids,” she shares about the affectionate diminutive grandparents and parents sometimes use for kids, which means “tiny one.”
“Farshtunken,” she ends. “That’s when it stinks around here!” I see no lies.
I love it. Seriously, I’m plotzing. This really has me longing for more, especially for her definitions of words like “yenta,” “bupkis,” and the chutzpah-filled expression “a leck and a schmeck,” which she used as the intrepid leader of the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Of course, “The Nanny” was known for using Yiddish words that aren’t just your run-of-the-mill “oy” and “schlep,” like this exchange between Niles and Mr. Sheffield where they argued about the meaning of words like “fahpitzed” (dolled up), “farblondzhet” (lost, mixed up), “fakakte” (messed up, crazy nonsense) and “farshimlt (confused).”
We’re so grateful to Fran for sharing her love for Yiddish with all of us, and can’t wait for more. Seriously Fran, please give us a bissel more Yiddish videos to kvell over!
