fonfer

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Definitions

  • n. Someone who mumbles, speaks unclearly.

  • n. A double-talker, bluffer, cheater.

  • n. A lazy person.

  • n. A boaster.

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Example Sentences

  • “That fonfer can drive you out of your mind.” (NJY)

  • “Don’t be a fonfer—work!” (NJY)

  • “That fonfer will make you think black is white.” (NJY)

  • “He’s a fonfer; watch his addition.” (NJY)

  • “It took him three hours to walk from here to Fourteenth Street to deliver that package. Did you ever hear of such a fonfer?" (NJY)

  • “He talks like a hero but acts like a fonfer.” (NJY)

  • “He should be selling lots on the moon, that fonfer.” (NJY)

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Languages of Origin

  • Yiddish

Etymology

  • פֿאָנפֿער fonfer

      • Who Uses This

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

      Regions

      • North America

      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).

      Alternative Spellings

      funfer, fumfer, fomfer

Notes

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