Top Nosh cafe in London (defunct)
Today in my ongoing series of photos from my travels: the derelict Top Nosh cafe in the Clerkenwell Road in London, right around the corner from my new office. As a (halting) Yiddish speaker, I love the way that Yiddishisms (like nosh) have worked their way into working class English dialect. Link
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Speaking of Yiddish, I am currently taking an introductory Yiddish language and culture class at the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts.
They have a paid internship this summer for 18 lucky people. You get to learn Yiddish in the morning and sort through over two centuries of Jewish history in the afternoon. Apply by 2 February to be eligible!
http://yiddishsummer.org/
Whoops! That's actually 1 February.
And isn't it funny to see that selling Kebabs and Shawerma by using a Yiddish Name for your Restaurant
doesn't seem to work too well.
Hey, Adrianawolfe! Can you ask and see if they know of any kids' Yiddish classes in London? I'm gonna need one for little 2.0 in about 5 years.
nosh is quite a commonly used word in Australia. i had no idea it was Yiddish however, i just thought it was another one of those words you use... like "tucker".
theres a vegetarian cafe in Katoomba (2 hours outside of Sydney) thats quite nice called "Niche Nosh"
I'm trying to remember what that cafe was before it was called Top Nosh. I'm fairly certain it was an Italian cafe dating from the 50s that became a kebab house maybe 15 years ago when the Italian owner retired. Like the Chop House it dates back to when Clerkenwell was the city's lunch box. I just came across a splendid 'hidden' tour on Adrian Maddox's Classic Cafe's website that uses the once splendid No. 8 bus as a mode of transport. It's not been the same since the Routemasters were withdrawn. http://www.classiccafes.co.uk/Tour2full.html
didn't realise it was Yiddish, I always thought 'nosh' was just an old-fashioned slang word for food, like 'grub'
it's not an uncommon word, for example the BBC's spoof cookery series Posh Nosh: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/poshnosh/
I've seen a "Posh Nosh" in Glasgow! It's just a run of the mill sandwich shop, no shawarma unfortunately.
You know that "Nosh" is also a slang term for "Blowjob"? One wonders what might have gone on upstairs.
London has had Yiddish influences for hundreds of years. I happen to hear it quite often myself in the area where I live, and I'll get some Hungarian Yiddish this morning if I ask for some. Anyway, it's a dying language.
Actually, Yiddish is on the increase, because it's spoken by ultra-Orthos -- Hassidim, Lubbovitchers, etc -- who don't practice birth control and have enormous families.
someday i want to open an indian restaurant called Nom Nom Naan
#9:
I dread the day they open a "Bottom Nosh."
There's a restaurant here in Dundee called "The New Popular Restaurant".
NOT YIDDISH!
This is a common error. "Nosh" has been in the Cockney lexicon for close to 200 years. The origin is from the Persian word "Noush", which is also common to Urdu and other Indian languages. It can mean "eat" or "imbibe". It has a quality of kindness, loving and endearment in Persian, and has spiritual overtones in the poetry of Haziz and Rumi.
The use of the word was likely picked up by soldiers returning from duty in the sub-continent, during the early 19th century - where they would certainly have used it.
There is no corresponding word sharing this isomorphic or homophonic quality in Hebrew, Polish, German or Ukrainian, which would be required to credit an assumption of Yiddish origin.
As the Persians say: "Noush-e Jaan!" - may it nourish your soul.
That sounds convincing but I'm having trouble finding any proof that nosh derives from persia and is not yiddish.
Nice try though!
'NOSH' is from the Old Middle German 'NASCHEN'.
Like many, if not most Yiddish words it has it's origin in some indo-germanic roots.
Perhaps lending credence to the Persian theory.
But old high and middle German origins are lost in the mists of time.
TO WIT:
A snack or light meal.
intr.v., noshed, nosh·ing, nosh·es.
To eat a snack or light meal: noshed on a bagel between classes.
[Yiddish nash, from nashn, to eat sweets, nibble on, from Middle High German naschen, to nibble, from Old High German hnascōn.]
"Language is a Virus." William S. Burroughs, American Chemist and Marksmen.
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Hey, Cory Doctorow!
I found what looks to be a great link for Yiddish language learning in London:
http://www.cactuslanguage.com/en/book/course.php?course_id=739
It appears to be an immersion program, complete with study of klezmer and observation of the shabes.
It's for anybody age 16 and up, and there is a fee.
Neat! Thanks!
I lived about a five minute walk from here, east on Clerkenwell, from September to December of last year. What a trip to find it on BoingBoing! Cory, you should head over a block or so west to Fryer's Delight -- THE BEST fish and chips anywhere, ever.
Spongo (3), there are lots of reasons restaurants close down. The name doesn't have to have anything to do with it. Kosher pizza and felafel joints are endemic in NYC.
MisterCharlie (9), by extension from "eat." Doesn't mean it happens in every grocery and restaurant.
Jeremiah Cornelius (15), wherever it came from originally, "nosh" is most certainly Yiddish.
By your logic, "ketchup" wouldn't be English, and "garcon" wouldn't be French; but they are.