Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A worthless amount; little or nothing.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun absolutely nothing; nothing of value,
significance , orsubstance
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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TV Guide Magazine: The situation seemed to be aggravated in June by Maria herself at the Emmys when she assured us in the press room you'd be coming back — but then that was following by several more months of bupkis.
Exclusive: Melody Thomas Scott Finally Renews Her Contract With The Young and the Restless 2011
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For those of us making little enough that the standard deduction always exceeds any possible itemized deductions, additional tax credits are worth absolutely bupkis.
Crumbs 2010
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What this has to do with MoveOn or the first amendment, is this: bupkis.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Andrew McCarthy Sticks to His Guns (And He May Be Pointing Them at You Next) 2010
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And bonds are paying bupkis: At the moment the Vanguard Bond Index Fund, a mixture of Treasurys and corporate, yields just 2.3%.
Tax Tips for Harvey Golub (and Other Millionaires) Brett Arends 2011
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What this has to do with MoveOn or the first amendment, is this: bupkis.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Andrew McCarthy Sticks to His Guns (And He May Be Pointing Them at You Next) 2010
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Because I look back at the last two decades of wingnut blathering about the economy, and I come up with bupkis.
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So, really, I did a whole lot of bupkis this weekend.
Day in the Life of an Idiot lyda222 2009
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I care about immigration policy to, but again, she had absolutely nothing, zip, nada, bupkis to do with SB1070 and up to the day she signed it, nobody knew if she would.
Gov. Brewer removes AG Goddard from immigration law defense. | RedState 2010
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Many people pointed out the irony of the Sunday's Snow Potential Index (SPI) reading "0 (→) - Nada, naught, zip, zilch, goose egg, bupkis, need I go on?" when snow flakes were falling.
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Today it has been dark all morning, the serious, threatening kind of dark that normally means batten down the hatches, but so far bupkis.
whichbe commented on the word bupkis
Absolutely nothing.
May 12, 2008
Prolagus commented on the word bupkis
But it must mean something!
December 12, 2010
reesetee commented on the word bupkis
Nope! It means bupkis.
December 13, 2010
1538619586 commented on the word bupkis
bupkis
This a derogatory term meaning worthless like goat shit. See MW.
Would this be useful for the excrement list?
December 13, 2010
bilby commented on the word bupkis
Any theories on the origin?
January 18, 2013
bilby commented on the word bupkis
Ok, found a decent-looking entry at AllExperts:
The word has many spellings, but the usual one is "bupkis." It is of Yiddish origin and was first used in the English language in 1937.
Here is the complete entry from "The Oxford English Dictionary" --
bupkis, n.
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈbʌpkᵻs/ , /ˈbʊbkᵻs/ , U.S. /ˈbəpkᵻs/ , /ˈbʊbkᵻs/
Forms: 19– bobkes, 19– bobkis, 19– bopkes, 19– bopkus, 19– bubkes, 19– bubkess, 19– bubkis, 19– bubkiss, 19– bupkes, 19– bupkis, 19– bupkiss, 19– bupkus.
Etymology: < Yiddish bobkes nonsense, rubbish, nothing, of uncertain origin.
N. Amer. slang (orig. in Jewish usage).
Absolutely nothing, nil.
1937 E. Rice Imperial City 67 The Wall Street goyim like 'em skinny‥. Do you know what you'll get for dinner?‥ A green pea with some bees'-knees a la bupkis hiding underneath it.
1942 A. J. Liebling Telephone Booth Indian 60 The best you can get there‥is a chance to work Saturday night at a ruptured saloon for bupkis.
1974 M. Torgov Good Place to Come From 147 She comes in, I give her twenty off automatically. I'd like to see her get that discount at Eaton's. Bupkes Eaton's'll give her off.
1987 J. B. Stine Spaceballs xxi. 109 Forget the ring. The ring is bupkis.
2006 New Yorker 16 Jan. 34/1 We came up with bubkes.
"The Urban Dictionary," which is not as reliable as "The Oxford English Dictionary," suggests that the Yiddish word originally referred to a kind of bean. The bean was shaped like the "droppings" of goats. Thus, some people say that bupkis means "goat shit."
- Ted Nesbitt
January 18, 2013
alexz commented on the word bupkis
Google books shows the 1937 book Imperial City by Elmer Rice http://goo.gl/rLTQT
Wictionary says it's got a Yiddish origin.
Elmer Rice was from New York City http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_Rice
checking alternate spellings listed at wictionary.
update - alternate spellings predate this
1931 Duke Herring p71 by Maxwell Bodenheim http://goo.gl/mKyZo
"Hot Bubkis, that would be hot irony steaming from the water closet"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_Bodenheim
1930 - google found bubkes in the Kibitzers dictionary by Abe Gross
http://goo.gl/Y1RMB
January 18, 2013