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Bupkis
Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 3:56 am
by sluggo
Bupkis (BUP-kiss)
Nothing, nada, zilch, a USian version of the British buggerall - often but not always used as one of a pair of double negatives: "He knew bupkis about farming"/ "He didn't know bupkis about farming".
Imported from Yiddish ("beans")?
Was reencouternated with this wonderfully whimsical word in a totally unrelated tangent surf-- on, of all things, an automotive message board. Made me wonder how many years it had been since I've heard it used. Time to bring it back?
Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 10:49 am
by Perry
Yes, this is from the Yiddish for beans.
A wonderful opposite expression for someone that does know what he/she is talking about or doing, "really knows his onions". I have know idea what the origin is.
Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 3:38 pm
by Palewriter
Yes, this is from the Yiddish for beans.
A wonderful opposite expression for someone that does know what he/she is talking about or doing, "really knows his onions". I have know idea what the origin is.
Here's the skinny on "know your onions", from the excellent World Wide Words site.
Incidentally, "bugger all" has a couple of sibling expressions in Brit. "Sod all" used to be heard much more than it is today. The ubiquitous F-word+all is probably more heard today than when I was a nipper.
-- PW
Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 4:27 pm
by sluggo
I have heard F-word-all from a couple of USians, though usage of bugger- and sod- seem to stay reserved for the UK.
Diddley, Squat and Jack (or jack-****) are more synonyms in North America. How many others might we think of?
Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 4:55 pm
by Palewriter
I have heard F-word-all from a couple of USians, though usage of bugger- and sod- seem to stay reserved for the UK.
Diddley, Squat and Jack (or jack-****) are more synonyms in North America. How many others might we think of?
Sweet Fanny Adams is an expression that used to be in vogue. Strictly ostpondial, as far as I know. Acronym-based, of course.
-- PW
Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 5:55 pm
by sluggo
Sweet Fanny Adams is an expression that used to be in vogue. Strictly ostpondial, as far as I know. Acronym-based, of course.
-- PW
Nice info PW. And I just love "ostpondial"!
Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 7:36 pm
by Bailey
The F-word here is, hopefully yet, not said in polite or even normal society.
mark-reserves-the-really-bad-words-for-self-mashed-thumbs* Bailey
*and usually in private
Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 9:39 pm
by gailr
Where is
Brazilian_dude to tell us that he doesn't know squat about this?
Bupkis is not be confused with its homonym pupkus
(sniglet n. The moist residue left on a window after a dog presses its nose to it.)
-gailr
Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 3:32 am
by sluggo
The F-word here is, hopefully yet, not said in polite or even normal society.
...
No, but that sort of society wouldn't apply to the circles I go around in... although one of those USian uses I heard was on TV (Dennis Miller).
Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:30 pm
by Bailey
Oh I hear it on BBC-A ALL the time, and worse. and cable, they act like folks have used it for centuries.
mark dag-nabbit Bailey
Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 6:13 pm
by tcward
I think a lot of people mispronounce this word, or think it is pronounced
bumpkiss (with an 'm').
And here's even more from World Wide Words on
beans.
-Tim
Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 12:44 am
by Palewriter
No, but that sort of society wouldn't apply to the circles I go around in...
Sorry to hear you're going around in circles, Sluggo. I know the feeling very well.
-- PW
Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 10:29 am
by Stargzer
No, but that sort of society wouldn't apply to the circles I go around in...
Sorry to hear you're going around in circles, Sluggo. I know the feeling very well.
-- PW
"Blessed are they who run in circles, for they shall be known as Big Wheels."