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kvetches? WT?

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My new word for today: kvetch, or it’s variation, kvetches. I’d never heard the word prior to today, and yet Jeremy used a variation of it (kvetchy) in an email I was party to, and Dave Winer used it in a post.

According to The Free Dictionary, kvetch means:

1. A chronic, whining complainer.
2. A nagging complaint

The simple variation in Australian English, so it would seem, would simply be the verb: whinge, or used to describe someone, as in the noun: whinger, or a f*cking whinger as the case may be to create a stronger use of someone who whinges.

 

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7 responses to “kvetches? WT?”

  1. Mike Rundle Avatar
    Mike Rundle

    Actually not an American word at all. kvetch is a Yiddish word, where Yiddish is a language that is primarily a combination of Hebrew and German.

    Wikipedia Yiddish

  2. duncan Avatar
    duncan

    Fair call Mike, although I’d guess that it’s a Yiddish word that might have some regular usage in North America. It’s not uncommon for example for words from other languages to become common as part of the regional or national dialect, such as some Aboriginal words have regular usage in Australia.

  3. Scripting News for 8/29/2006 « Scripting News Annex

    […] Duncan Riley names “kvetch” the word of the day. It’s a good word.   […]

  4. Mike Rundle Avatar
    Mike Rundle

    Well I knew it because I’m Jewish 😉

  5. duncan Avatar
    duncan

    That explains Dave Winer as well Mike. Now you’ll need to use it in a podcast so I can listen and actually work out how it’s pronounced 🙂

  6. Mike Avatar
    Mike

    It’s pronounced just like it’s spelled. 🙂 Kvetch. If anything, you sort of blend the K and the v together.

  7. Bob

    Bob

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