Tony Snow, Yiddish Maven
The following exchange took place at the start of the May 18 briefing held by Tony Snow, the recently installed White House press secretary.
MR. SNOW: Okay, let’s begin. Welcome, one and all. Good afternoon. For those of you who weren’t here, we have coined the term “bupkes list” for items that the press secretary may not have had complete and full answers for during the gaggle. So, in response to this morning’s bupkes list, who is —
Q: How do you spell “bupkes”?
MR. SNOW: Bupkus — b-u-p-k-u-s.
Q: Yiddish.
Q: E-s.
MR. SNOW: Thank you, corrected. E-s.
Actually, our sources have it as i-s. Perhaps, when Mr. Snow has found his sea legs, he should check out Philologos’s August 19, 2005, column, “A Hill of Bupkis” (https://forward.com/articles/3837).
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
