He’s referring to a deceased boxer’s kid, who hung around the ring, referring to him as a “little [sha-dish]” or something like that. I took it to be Yiddish for obvious reasons. What is it, and what does it mean?
I am not a native Yiddish speaker, but from working with others who were I think it means “hush hush” or “kept quiet”
“Sha!” written as if it were english is how they use to say “quiet!”
I did confim my memory was correct on that part here with the word “שאַ”
http://www.yiddishdictionaryonline.com/dictionary/%D7%A9%D7%90%D6%B7.html
Hopefully you get a native speaker to confirm.
Sha does mean " be quiet" but that is not what is being said in the video. My folks speak Yiddish (as their first language), so I’ll try to get some info.
Did I miss something? Why the assumption that it’s Yiddish?
Sounds very much like Yiddish to me, and I took the OP to mean he had specific reasons why Yiddish makes sense. But you’re right- it is an assumption.
If New Yorker Jimmy Breslin uses a word I’m not familiar with, I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume it’s Yiddish. Just a hunch.