Taytsh

Phrase Entry

PHRASE DETAIL VIEW REVISIONS

YIDDISH PHRASE
דיר-נישט מיר-נישט

ENGLISH TRANSLATION(S)

guileless, unpremeditated - perhaps "offhandedly" would be the best English equivalent

EXAMPLE(S)

דאס פריילעכע אפיצירל פלעגט דיר-נישט מיר-נישט ארויסנעמען דעם טייסטער...

NOTES

The broader context of this scene is someone who is involved in smuggling letters to a prisoner is "accidentally" dropping coins out of his wallet to distract the guards.

COMMENTS

  • zekharye

    This is quite an interesting phrase. Can anyone provide an example of how it is used in context?

    1 May 2014, 9:36 am

  • Makhno

    !!MAYBE!!

    I don't think it's "surreptious". There is a German phrase which goes "mir nichts, dir nichts". Taken literally it makes no sense. The phrase means "without thinking" or "without hesitation" or "guileless". Here is an example in German/English/Yiddish.

    Wir unterhielten uns und mir nichts, dir nichts zieht er eine Waffe.
    Wa talked to each other and suddenly he drew a gun.
    Mir hobn gereydt un dir-nisht mir-nisht tsit er a vofn.

    Maybe my explanation is wrong, in particular the Yiddish "tsien" is not spelled correctly, I think. But maybe it's right.

    1 May 2014, 9:42 am