What (if anything) do Jewish people think of the non-Jewish who regularly use Yiddish words? I happen to think, being non-Jewish, that Yiddish is really cool and has words for things that can’t be said as well in English.
Never intend to offend, so if I say anything insensitive, point it out, but know that it’s just ignorance.
I once worked with a young lady who constantly used the word schmuck inappropriately. She got very embarassed when I told her what it really meant. I don’t think about who is using Yiddish words, as long as they are used correctly.
Not an issue, as long as they are used correctly in context. Some are so common that they have become part of English, although I am always surprised at the extent to which this is not the case when I venture outside urban areas or into areas where there is little or no Jewish population. Yay multiculturalism!
So, you mean it’s not okay to tell your boss he’s your favorite Schmuck? 
Not unless you mean it literally (schmuck literally means penis) and are willing both to back it up and face the natural results of said backing up.
(My sister, then age 8 or so, once got mad at Dad and called him a schmuck. He almost got really pissed off, until he realized she probably had no idea what it meant.)
Like others say, as long as they are used correctly!
My aunt’s business partner is of Norwegian and Swedish descent, and totally looks it. Over the years, she’s picked up a ton of Yiddish, especially from my aunt, and she uses it freely (and accurately.) It’s kind of funny to have an immense torrent of idiosyncratic Yiddish pouring out of the least Jewish-looking person around!
Was joking!!
I wouldn’t use a word until I looked it up.
Have you seen *A Mighty Wind You must, if you haven’t! Without too many spoilers, let’s just say there is a particular character who unexpectedly throws in a lot of Yiddish, to quite hilarious effect.
There aren’t many Jews around where I live (Oklahoma) so really the only Okies who know any Yiddish are the ones who watch Seinfeld. That being said, I don’t really know Yiddish, so if they use it wrong, I usually don’t know it.
Perhaps I will make my friend go with me to see next week!
I don’t mind.
I have a co-worker (who, despite having an identifiably Jewish last name is not Jewish [he’s an African-American]) who can rattle off Hebrew and Yiddish phrases.
If I ask him how he’s doing he routinely says Boruch Hashem (a traditional Jewish colloquialism for “Thank God.”) or HaKol B’Seder (literally: “everything is in order,” usually meant to mean “Everything’s OK.” He blew me over one time on a Friday when he told me Baruch Hashem zeh yom HaShishi (“Thank God it’s Friday.”).
Of course there was the time that I saw him in the bathroom and when I asked him how he was, he said Baruch Hashem. I had to instruct him that we don’t use such terminology in the bathroom. 
Zev Steinhardt
Being a Jew, I think Yiddish makes everything funnier, i.e. that scene in “A Mighty Wind.”
I was saying to a friend that something was (I’m going to do phonetic b/c I dont know the spelling) fakoktah, and she asked me to repeat what I said. Turns out her roommate, who is not Jewish, thought she’d made up that very same word.
Then there’s those who think “spatula” and “far-fetched” are Yiddish words. Oy.
In New York Yiddish is so prevalent that I never minded. I never learned it from my grandmother (who really spoke it) so though I’m Jewish I wouldn’t say I had more of a right to use it than anyone else.
I rather suspect most people who use schmuck don’t know what it means. (And it has other roots - it was very odd in Austria to see all the jewelers with “schmuck” on their signs.) Joke from Leo Rosten
A man in Miami wants to impress everyone, so he rents a camel and rides it up and down the streets. Soon afterwards the camel gets stolen and the man goes to the police.
“What’s the camel’s name” they ask him. He doesn’t know. “Age?” No clue.
Finally they ask if he knows anything about the camel. “Yes, he says, I know it’s male?”
“How do you know that?”
“Because when I was riding down the street, everyone shouted ‘Look at the schmuck on that camel!’”
What do you think people think schmuck means? I mean, as a non-Jewish person, I have used it when I really, really wanted to insult someone (which is rare, of course), and I’ve heard Jewish people use it that way. I figured it meant the same as calling someone a dick in the bad way. We also use dick to refer to the penis in a non-insulting way, too, no?
Peopel think it means idiot, generally. The word “putz” is also misused in this fashion, I believe.
I once had an African-American supervisor who wished me a “good Shabbos” on a Friday afternoon. He must have seen that I was surprised, because he explained that he picked the phrase up from some other Jewish people who worked for him. ;j
Like any other words, it’s fine by me so long as they are used correctly.
Haj
I don’t mind, but I do tactfully correct folks on inappropriate uses after the fact. The words shmuck and putz are high on that list.
I think I am more peeved by people who spell shmuck, “schmuck”.
That’s the one reason I’ve never liked Smucker’s Jam. Just never liked the name - Smuckers — too close. Even after their reassurance – “With a name like Smuckers, it has to be good.” It’s like they know! -