# What is the true meaning of "yakshemash"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 30, 2005, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707 "2005-12-30T13:06:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JMEB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee59a6/32.png) [@JMEB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JMEB)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/1 "2005-12-30T13:06:07Z")
in AliG, dressed as barat he uses the word “yakshemash” a lot. what does it actually mean ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/2 "2005-12-30T13:27:28Z")
It sounds almost like ‘yaxemosh’\*, which was a casserole based on ground beef, egg noodles, and corn, that my mother and her mother used to make. They were from the upper Midwest, so I’ve always wondered if it was a regionalism. It doesn’t seem to explain AliG using it, though. \*Guessing at the spelling, since I never saw the word written down. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/3 "2005-12-30T14:33:25Z")
It’s actually Polish and is the equivalent of “hello” or “how’s it going”. Don’t know the actual spelling. It’s a funny bit, since Barat is supposed to be middle eastern. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/4 "2005-12-30T14:58:54Z")
Huh. Sounds like Czech to me. My dad usually starts phone calls to his mom and brother with “Jak se máš” (pronounced more or less like “yock say mosh”), which is basically “How are you?” We are of Czech lineage. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/5 "2005-12-30T15:49:45Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > It’s a funny bit, since Barat is supposed to be middle eastern. No. He’s supposed to be from Kazakhstan. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/6 "2005-12-30T15:51:58Z")
Sorry for the double post. I mean to add that Sasha Cohen’s ancestory is from central Europe so it’s not suprising that he would pull out a phrase like that. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/7 "2005-12-30T15:52:44Z")
Is the Polish and Czech phrase similar in Russian? If so that’d make a lot of sesne as most Kazakhs speak some degree of Russian for obvious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/8 "2005-12-30T15:55:08Z")
From memory the Polish spelling is something like “Jak sie masz”, there probably is a very similar phrase in Czech (the languages are both Slavic obviously but with more common words than say Polish and Croat). ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/9 "2005-12-30T15:57:39Z")
My former in-laws were Polish on one side and Bohemian on the other. I used to hear family members exchange the greeting and assumed that it was Polish. As noted above, there are many similar words in both languages. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/10 "2005-12-30T16:15:39Z")
> [@Crandolph](#): > > Is the Polish and Czech phrase similar in Russian? If so that’d make a lot of sesne as most Kazakhs speak some degree of Russian for obvious reasons. No, in Russian it’s something like “kak dyela.” Actually, I always assumed AliG was speaking Polish, but now that I think about it, he also uses the phrase “Děkuji” (Czech “thank you”) which I at first thought was an Englishman’s attempt at the Polish “dziękuje,” but now, if I’m remembering it right, is closer to the Czech pronunciation. However the “sheh” pronunciation in “yakshehmosh” points more towards Polish. So, it’s definitely either Polish or Czech (or both) he’s doing there. Probably Polish. ---
**Author:** ![UselessGit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/74df32/32.png) [@UselessGit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UselessGit)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/11 "2005-12-30T16:46:09Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > So, it’s definitely either Polish or Czech (or both) he’s doing there. Probably Polish. He always sounds Polish to me; you can clearly hear him say Jak sie masz and Dziękuję at least. Admittedly, Polish, Russian, Czech and the likes are very, very similar. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/12 "2005-12-31T09:42:50Z")
> [@UselessGit](#): > > He always sounds Polish to me; you can clearly hear him say Jak sie masz and Dziękuję at least. Admittedly, Polish, Russian, Czech and the likes are very, very similar. During and after WW2 a lot of Poles (Jewish and Christian) came to or stayed in the UK, there is a sizeable community in London I’d guess that even if Sacha Baren Cohen doesn’t have a Polish background himself he could well have heard Polish phrases when he was younger. ---
**Author:** ![ntcrawler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/34f0e0/32.png) [@ntcrawler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ntcrawler)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/13 "2006-01-01T19:55:04Z")
It’s definitely Polish, and yes the phrase is “Jak sie, masz?” our equivalent of the Canadian “so how’s it going, eh?” In Czech, the phrase is “JAK SE MÁTE?” [proceeds to crack up laughing, mumbling about how Czech sounds like Polish spoken by little kids] Happy 2006, everyone! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/14 "2006-01-01T20:10:48Z")
[QUOTE=ntcrawler] It’s definitely Polish, and yes the phrase is “Jak sie, masz?”[//QUOTE] There is no comma in the phrase. It is exactly this: Jak się masz Jak = “how” Się = 2nd person reflexive (“yourself”) masz = 2nd person familiar MIEĆ “to have” It’s not slangy at all. It’s simply the familiar way to say “how are you”. Equivalent to German “Wie geht es dir” or French “Comment vas-tu” in connotation (at least to my ears). ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/15 "2006-01-01T20:13:37Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s definitely Polish, and yes the phrase is “Jak sie, masz?” our equivalent of the Canadian “so how’s it going, eh?” > > In Czech, the phrase is “JAK SE MÁTE?” It could also be Czech – “Jak se maš”. I’ve seen cars with that as a bumper sticker. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/16 "2006-01-01T20:27:03Z")
> [@ntcrawler](#): > > [proceeds to crack up laughing, mumbling about how Czech sounds like Polish spoken by little kids] It’s funny, because the Czechs and Slovaks say the same about us (I’m assuming you’re of Polish extraction) with the Polish “Ł” (English “w” sound) replacing some instanced of the conventional “L” sound in other Slavic languages. My Russian-speaking ex-roommate said Polish sounded like a Slavic language spoken by Elmer Fudd. And, looking back at your post, I’m not sure whether you intended to say that _jak się masz_ is colloquial or slangy at all, I just got that sense from the Canadian comment. It’s a familiar greeting, the formal version being _jak się Pan(i) ma_ or–in certain versions of Polish–_jak się macie_. But there is one curious thing: I’ve never seen the comma used in the phrase, and all the Polish texts I have omit it. However, I have found two web sites, out of a hundred that I bothered to quickly google, that do include the comma. So perhaps what I initially perceived as an error is not, although I cannot see any reason Polish would insert a comma between the reflexive and the verb. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/17 "2006-01-01T20:33:55Z")
You guys have me curious. What is AliG and who is Barat? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/18 "2006-01-01T20:40:11Z")
> [@yBeayf](#): > > It could also be Czech – “Jak se maš”. I’ve seen cars with that as a bumper sticker. The two different versions you see here correspond to the familiar and formal versions of the phrase. You can even see some of the trademark softening of consonant sounds Polish exhibits versus other Slavic languages. Jak się mas = Jak se maš Jak się macie = Jak se máte In Polish the “s” is softened to a “sh” and the “t” is softened to a “ch.” It’s also worth noting that Polish has two different “sh” and “ch” sounds, the softer one being represented by si/ś and ci/ć, and the harder one represented by cz/sz. For an example of a word with all four in one syllable, see _szczęść_ (used in the phrase _szczęść Boże_ “May God give you fortune/God bless you”) or the more common, but two syllable _szczęście_ “luck/fortune/happiness.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2006, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/19 "2006-01-01T20:43:18Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > You guys have me curious. What is AliG and who is Barat? Both Ali G and Barat are alter egos of British satirist Sascha Cohen. The [Wikipedia entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_G) will inform you better than I can. You can find clips of his work at [http://www.spikedhumor.com](http://www.spikedhumor.com) ---
**Author:** ![ntcrawler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/34f0e0/32.png) [@ntcrawler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ntcrawler)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707/20 "2006-01-01T22:41:23Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] [QUOTE=ntcrawler] It’s definitely Polish, and yes the phrase is “Jak sie, masz?”[//QUOTE] There is no comma in the phrase. It is exactly this: I know that, grrr… it was a typo. bad keyboard, bad!!! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-yakshemash/337707.md?page=2)