The word “lox” hasn't changed in sound or meaning in 8k years

Re:The word “lox” hasn't changed in sound or meaning in 8k y... by slg on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @08:23PM (#19915210)

It came to English via Yiddish and therefore via the Jewish people. I wouldn't be surprised if there are a lot more Yiddish words in American English than British English considering the size of the Jewish populations in both countries, the timelines for their immigration, and the roles they have traditionally taken in society.

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Re:The word “lox” hasn't changed in sound or meaning in 8k y... by MagicPropmaker on Wednesday May 15, 2019 @12:53AM (#19916531)

Here in Israel, where I spend about half my time split between Tel Aviv and Silicon Valley, it's called not by the Hebrew term for "smoked salmon" but by the Yiddish word "לאָקס" (spelled as לוקס in Hebrew)

I was born in Brooklyn, to a Yiddish speaking family. Occasionally I use a Yiddish word in Israel and I'm met by a blank stare. 60% of the Jewish population here came from countries like Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, etc, where nobody knew Yiddish.

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Re:The word “lox” hasn't changed in sound or meaning in 8k y... by simonh on Wednesday May 15, 2019 @05:11AM (#19917620)

Could you give a phonetic representation of that, for non-Yiddish speakers? Thanks.

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Re:The word “lox” hasn't changed in sound or meaning in 8k y... by throwaway_vnkqd on Wednesday May 15, 2019 @07:18AM (#19918279)

In Yiddish it would be something like "lux" as in "deluxe" or "bucks". In contemporary Israeli Hebrew, that vowel doesn't exist so it would be pronounced somewhere between the "ucks" in "bucks" and the "olks" in "yolks" or "folks".

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Re:The word “lox” hasn't changed in sound or meaning in 8k y... by js2 on Thursday May 16, 2019 @04:10PM (#19932625)

Both words are spellings of "lox." Also, lox isn't smoked, it's salt cured. Cold smoked salmon is usually called nova.

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Re:The word “lox” hasn't changed in sound or meaning in 8k y... by falcor84 on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @09:32PM (#19915587)

It took me quite a few rereadings before it finally clicked that you're probably not implying that there are more words in American English originating from Yiddish than those coming from British English words.

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Re:The word “lox” hasn't changed in sound or meaning in 8k y... by ghayes on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @10:05PM (#19915785)

Yes to clarify I believe OP is implying: there are more Yiddish words in current American English than there are Yiddish words in current British English.

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Re:The word “lox” hasn't changed in sound or meaning in 8k y... by slg on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @11:25PM (#19916150)

Exactly. Sorry, I probably phrased that original comment poorly.

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Re:The word “lox” hasn't changed in sound or meaning in 8k y... by Fnoord on Wednesday May 15, 2019 @05:55AM (#19917831)

Amsterdam Dutch vocabulary contains a plethora of Yiddish words which are commonly used, though not outside of Amsterdam. Hence it is in contrast to the rest of The Netherlands where you'll still find a few being used but not nearly as much and ingrained as Amsterdam.

Its not merely the dialect, its also the accent. The hard Dutch 'g' isn't spoken in everywhere in The Netherlands (for example the south doesn't use it).

A musical piece about the Amsterdam Dutch dialect is Osdorp Posse - Origineel Amsterdams [1]. It contains a lot of Amsterdam Dutch vocubulary. As someone who cannot speak Dutch, see if you can recognize any Yiddish words?

[1] https://lyrics.fandom.com/wiki/Osdorp_Posse:Origineel_Amster...

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