Farklempt

I took an interesting survey yesterday, conducting by professors researching the use of Yiddish and Hebrew words in English (social scientists at Hebrew Union College). It's meant for both Jews and non-Jews; Jews are also asked about their upbringing. It's interesting, as I said, and if you complete it, you can sign up to have the results emailed to you.

The day before, I'd heard a non-Jewish radio broadcaster here in the South use a very Yiddish word, farklempt. For some reason, I always thought that meant disheveled, but it means choked up. While Googling to make sure I spelled it correctly, I found an online multi-player game called Farklempt, which has to do with managing emotions in an artistic way...don'tknow if I have the time to play, but someone else might...

Anyway, while certain Yiddishisms entered the English language long ago (thanks mostly to Hollywood, I should think), this was not one that I ever expected to hear, especially in Georgia!