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#122570 02/11/04 03:03 AM
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Can anyone tell me the difference between a nudnik and a nudzh?


#122571 02/11/04 03:03 PM
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Well, there both from the same Slavic root (probably Polish nuda 'boredom'): nudnik is a nomen agentis, 'one who bores, or bothers' from nudyen 'to bore, pester' (the digraph {dy} in Yiddish indicates a palatalized consonant). The suffix -nik also comes from Slavic, rather than the Germanic base of Yiddish. The verb nudzh (also nudge) is used as a noun also, probably under English influence: words changing syntactic categories without derivitive morphology, i.e., no suffixes needed. You see the same thing with the English noun schmier (for cream cheeese, etc.) derived from the Yiddish verb shmiren 'to smear'. The PIE root *n@u-ti- also gives English need and German Not.

So, what's the diff between 'em. Not much, I'd say.


#122572 02/11/04 03:09 PM
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I understand a nudnik to be a pest and a nudge, a pesterer. One is an annoyance and the other, an annoyance who wants something out of you.

#122573 02/11/04 03:19 PM
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Dear IP: Could it be that a nudzh is actively annoying,
and a nudnik is only passively annoying?


#122574 02/11/04 03:29 PM
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<<..passively annoying>>

wwh: Dismissing the 'irony' of psychologisms (passive aggressive) as precedent, wouldn't you say that to act passively was paradoxical?


#122575 02/11/04 03:41 PM
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Dear IP: There are those who annoy by being stupid, but
may say or do very little. Then there are half-wits who
butt in with stupid remarks.


#122576 02/11/04 03:53 PM
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Perhaps, the innocent bore versus the malicious? I took a look at Harkavy's. He gives a noun nudy (i.e., nudzh) that is glossed as nudate 'nausea'. The female nudnik is a nudnitse, and the daytshmerish (German, 'fancy word') for 'tedium' is langvaylikayt (langvaylen 'to weary').


#122577 02/11/04 04:53 PM
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die Langweile = boredom, verb langweilen = to bore


#122578 02/11/04 05:10 PM
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Yep, Yiddish is a Germanic language like English, Dutch, and German.


#122579 02/11/04 05:35 PM
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die Langweile = boredom

Thanks for reminding me of one of my favorite words from German class -- when you're bored, things to seem to take a Long While!


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