"Bobkes"

Factual Questions
1

“Bobkes,” Yiddish slang for “nothing, zilch, nada.” I never knew this word until I stumbled on it today.

So, now I know the origin of the word I’ve been hearing in American slang for quite some time, but pronounced a little different: “bup-kus.”

But the mystery still remains: how do I spell the Americanized version of the word? I’ve seen it spelled various ways in a number unreliable sources. “Bubkiss” seems to be a popular spelling, as does “bupkus” and “bupkiss.” I’ve looked in a few American and English slang dictionaries, but the word doesn’t appear. Is the word still spelled “bobkes,” even when spoken by an antisemitic Alabaman?

2

Buy yourself a copy of Leo Rosten’s The Joys of Yiddish.

Not only is this a great book for spellings and meanings, but he illustrates each word with jokes. And what jokes!

Rosten says either bobkes or bubkes is used. Bubkes would be preferred.

3

Yiddish is written in Hebrew characters, which is why you see so many variations in the spelling of Yiddish (and Hebrew) words in English - it’s all phonetic.

4

No, that would be “Bubbakiss”, as in…
My sister went out the other night and all she got was a Bubbakiss.