fermisht

The amusing native production error of the week was provided by an eight year old watching The Sound of Music who asked if the characters were speaking Germish and then laughed at herself. I enjoyed pointing out that her inadvertent coinage, a mix of two words for two different languages, was almost self-referential. Germischen should mean exactly to combine German with other languages.

Inspired by this, perhaps, I have tinkered with odd combinations in the days that followed. The flavor of hot cocoa was made considerable more rich with a dash of spicy curry powder. Scones were improved when laced with black pepper and grapefruit zest.

Munching and sipping, I am moved to consider that Yiddish fermisht has very different valence than Old Icelandic blandið. The Norse one implies pollution or (and this is really captures the word as it is applied to Freyja) adulteration. The Yiddish speaks only of silliness, mixed-up-ness, harmless confusion.