Backstage Yiddish

Yiddish has for a loaned the English language words, phrases and attitudes in general and provided sharp working tools for performers in particular. A subset of Yinglish has been appropriated, meanings twisted a bit and set to work backstage.

Bubee - Form of address. Usually morphs into bubba as the tour move into the heartland, unless your from N.Y. Then it's bubbleh all the way.

Cuppah - overhead drapery on a set (excluding the teasers)

Kosher - A power hook-up that supplies correct grounding and phase or a hang that's been signed off on. Everything else is copacetic.

Farpotshket - Something that's been repaired so many times, so deep in duct tape, that it can't be fixed no more.

Kvetch - The singer

Potch - Percussive maintenance.

Tchotchke - Little specialty tools. i.e. fret files, coffin keys, projector alignment drivers..

Megillah - A shows hardware. "We got the megillah out of the truck and powered in two hours."

Pisher - New guy on an experienced crew.

Drek - The instruments.

They're plenty more, but most are used in the same sense everyone else does. Smuck, klutz, putz, farblondjet and so on.

Spelling reference: The Joys of Yiddish by Leo Rosten (What's green, hangs on a wall and whistles?" ......"A Herring" (you can paint it green, nail it to the wall and the whistling part is added just to make the riddle hard).