10 - Yinglish!
1 sound
Toronto in the early 1900’s was a hub for immigrants and refugees to land. With this, came an abundance of languages that were spoken. One of the languages of the Eastern European Jews is Yiddish and it arrived here with thousands of refugees, fleeing pogroms and anti-Semitism in Europe. So many came that Kensington Market was known as The “Jewish Market” for many years.
As they began meeting and working with other immigrants and English-spekers, they began learning this new language and blending it with their mother. This blending gave birth to what is known colloquially, as “Yinglish”.
As you might guess, Yinglish is a form of Yiddish with words and phrases in English peppered in. You might recognize Yinglish words like “schmooze”, “schlep” and “chutzpah,” as products of this smoothie of languages, blended right here in the Market.
In another clip on this Sound walk you heard Sharoni Sibony talk about how the inscription at the entrance to the Minkser Synagogue is in fact in Yinglish. Around the same time it was chiseled into the stone you would have found many businesses all around here with Yinglish inscriptions. While these storefronts may have come and gone, the legacy of Yinglish remains to this day. Can you find some Yinglish words right here? They’re all around you!
Want to read in Yinglish? Find the QR Code to load a phonetic alphabet in your browser.
Music by the Klezmer Conservatory Band playing "Meron Nign"
