izzyizumi reblogged
Aftselakhis (Yiddish)
(noun) wanting to do something just because someone else doesn’t want you to x
jewishhenna
#I grew up with this word nevertheless I just spent 20 minutes trying to figure out its etymology yes well it means for spite or to piss someone off
I spent like twenty minutes trying to think of the etymology too… It’s actually a macaronic Yiddish-Hebrew phrase compressed into one word: אויף צו להכעיס, oyf tsu lehakhes (or lokhes): “in order to spite [someone].”
libhobn
a couple additional notes:
- אויף is sometimes pronounced af (not oyf, despite the spelling). it depends on the dialect.
- להכעיסניק, which comes from the same hebrew root (להכעיס), means “spiteful”. להכעיס comes from the hebrew root כעס, meaning “anger”.
- להכעיס is masculine and takes the דער/der article
- כּעסן (pronounced kaysn; or כּעסנטע/kaysnte in the feminine) is an angry person
so: the cat pushes the glass אױף צו להכעיס, making its owner a כּעסן/כּעסנטע.