On Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:16:34 +0000 (UTC), "meir b."
Even though you spelled it according to maybe the more common dialect,
it took me a second or two to recognize the word.
Post by meir b.Post by Micha BergerPost by m***@ando.pair.comto no point and everyone noticing it?
Actually, I think you mean "fumfer", which also means to mumble. I think
that's the original meaning, and the word is an onomatopoeia. Doesn't
"fumfer" sound like mumbling? (For that matter, so does "mumble".)
The word is "fumfa."
That corresponds to my experience. When I was accused, they said
"Don't fumfee", or maybe "fomfee". I can't think of an English word
with a vowel half=way between the u in thumb and the o in from. For
the first vowel, the u in the Yiddish frum, is the vowel I'm used to.
My mother's side of the family, from Eyshushuk near Vilna, and I also
say other words ending in ee, like kishke (or kishkee), polke,
fligele, shikse, pushke, ongepatchke, latke, and many more that other
end with a shva sound.
Post by meir b.One who does it is a fumfer,
Meir