Sashimi with a Side of Fries 

Adam Thirlwell

This is a miniature dictionary of the invented English in The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Michael Chabon’s charming, flawed and exhausting new novel:

bik (Yiddish: bull) – doorman
latke (Yiddish: potato cake) – 1. police cap 2. policeman
noz (Yiddish: nose) – policeman
shammes (Yiddish: assistant to rabbi, beadle) – policeman
sholem (Yiddish: peace) – gun
shoyfer (Yiddish: horn) – cell phone
shtarker (Yiddish: strong man, strong arm) – gangster; hard man

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