Until I was 19 I’d hardly been outside London.
In fact I’d hardly been outside east London.
Then I went to art school in New York.
When I got chatting to the Americans they remarked on how quickly I’d picked up the New York dialect.
I didn’t know what they meant.
They said all the Jewish words I was using.
I didn’t even know I was using any Jewish words.
I asked what Jewish words I was using.
They said words like ‘Shmuck’ and ‘Klutz’ and ‘Nosh’ and ‘Shlep’.
I was really surprised, I didn’t think I knew any Jewish words.
They were just English, part of our language.
“Don’t be a shmuck.”
“Shtum, it’s the coppers.”
“I’m not shlepping that all over the pace.”
“What’s for nosh?”
“Who’s that shnook over there?”
“That song’s a bit schmaltzy.”
“Is this gear kosher?”
“I gave him a bit of a shpiel and he bought it.”
“Look at the size of that bloke’s shnozz.”
“I’d like to go, but I haven’t got the gelt.”
It was just part of our language.
But the Americans were surprised.
Because as they knew, every Englishman talked like David Niven, carried an umbrella and wore a bowler hat.
To them that language was only New York.
Whereas to me, that language was only east London.
And what I realised is people are people.
And especially poor people.
Which is why Yiddish catches on in the poor areas of big cities.
Immigrants bring it with them and it’s quickly absorbed.
The people who live there find it works, they use it, they own it.
As far as they’re concerned it becomes their language.
Which is something we should be studying.
How do we create stuff that gets into the language?
That people take on board and use as if it was their own?
How do we get something to go viral?
To jump from one person to another to another to another.
Massively effective free media.
How do we do that?
I was talking to art director Malcolm Gaskin about it.
I said it was funny but I’d noticed that cockneys get on well with scousers and well with geordies.
Better than with people from other parts of the UK in fact.
Gaz, who is a geordie, agreed.
He thought it was because they were all ports.
In big bustling port cities everyone’s thrown together.
People from all cultures and races.
It’s just the same in New York.
Eventually they get along, not by concentrating on what makes them different.
But by concentrating on what makes them similar.
What Bill Bernbach calls “Simple, timeless human truths”.
That’s what we ought to be studying.
Off topic, but hope you get your comments section back on the cst site. After all, communication goes both ways, and I hope you get some insights from people’s comments (if not mine!)…
As ever
Tom
Tom,
The people running the site at The Gate decided they didn’t need a comments section.
But you can still comment here, or on the Campaign/Brand Republic blog.
I too noticed that Dave. I always thought that part of the appeal of Yiddish to gentiles was that it’s so damn onomatopaeic. Nosh just sounds like food to me. And schnozz sounds like a nose.
I know what you mean Vinnie.
Klutz does sound like a dope.
And Shmuck does sound like an idiot.
Maybe that’s the secret to things that catch on: onomatopoeia.
Or even words you just enjoy saying.
Like ‘Waasssuuuppp?”
The wonderful thing about tigger http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=144hlLW7opQ
Clang ,clang, clang went the trolley
Ding, ding, ding went the bell.
Dave,
Are you sure it didn’t go something like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BaXPg_2FJ4
John,
In my experience, more like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij5mw_eqKuc
I’d never even heard of Brahms and Lizt until I came down here.
I didn’t know any of that was slang, I thought it was just English.
Maybe you’re thinking of that music hall double act?
Who “Mutt and Jeff”?
Which most people shorten to “mutton”, as in “You’ll have to speak up dear, he’s a bit mutton”