Thursday, November 18, 2010

Nudnik

The Philologos column in the Forward this week concerns Hebrew words that came from the Arabic: ahbal (idiot), kef (fun), ala kefak (terrific), achlah (great), and more. All fairly straightforward.

But then he ends by noting that words travel the other way as well - from the Hebrew to the Arabic (which of course makes perfect sense):
Just yesterday, an Arab friend informed me that nudnik is now a Palestinian-Arabic word!
Of course in about 20 years' time, we'll be accused of stealing the word from them....

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