bubbe meise

Definitions

• n. "Something of little importance, an inconsequential thing or minor happening." (JPS)
  

• n. "Old wive's tale"; an untrue story, sometimes related to superstition.
  

Example Sentences

• "Stop complaining about how much trouble it was to return this sweater. What a bubbe meise." (JPS)
  

• "All the stuff about the oil lasting eight days is just a bubbe meise. What really happened is written down in the Book of Maccabees." (source)
  

Languages of Origin

• Textual Hebrew
• Yiddish

Etymology

• באָבע־מעשׂה bóbe-mayse 'tall tale'
  

Who Uses This

• Older: Jews who are middle-aged and older
• Ashkenazim: Jews with Ashkenazi heritage

Regions

• North America
• South Africa

Dictionaries

• The New Joys of Yiddish, by Leo Rosten and Lawrence Bush (New York, 2003[1968]).
• Yiddish and English: A Century of Yiddish in America, by Sol Steinmetz (Tuscaloosa, 1986).
• The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
• Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Popular Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).
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Alternative Spellings

bobe mayse, bubbe mayseh, bubbe-meise, bubbe-meiseh, bubbe-myseh