harunbey has adopted no words, looked up 0 words, created 0 lists, listed 0 words, written 1 comment, added 0 tags, and loved 0 words.

Comments by harunbey

  • Trombenik is indisputably Yiddish and defined by Yiddish sources on the net as 'a braggart' 'a lier' 'deceitful fellow' et. al. I've also heard it used to mean 'fucker.' ...Not a fuck-up or a 'mother-fucker' but rather a somewhhat innocuous seducer.

    While no etymology seems to be given on this site or anywhere else I've checked on the net, it is difficult to escape considering a possible derivation from French tromper -as suggested to me by a friend many years ago. (Yiddish has a fair number of French borrowings although the French influence on Yiddish is rarely noted in histories or description of the language,)

    To my mind, the Yiddish word fits Donald Trump to a tee and the phonological suggestiveness is inescapable. But, amazingly, it has not caught on for English speakers/writers. I don't read the Yiddish press... perhaps someone there has thought to use it.

    October 16, 2016

Comments for harunbey

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.