Of course the 60’s is “very recent”. Great God! we’re talking about a radical connotative shift in a common word; one would expect it to take centuries.
Has Goethe been removed from the syllabus?
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams
OK, found this “veyb” quote. It’s from a musical that was produced in the 1950’s. The stanza could be older, though.
Toyznt VEYBER hot gehat
Shloyme hamelech der kliger.
Fargst nisht az tsa yedn VEYB
Hot ir oych gekrign a shviger!
::chuckle, snort::
–Rivkele
For each of the thousand wives, he also got an in-law?
A MOTHER-in-law. It’s amazing to me that you understand, jens, because I don’t understand German at all.
–Riv
In German, “Schwieger” is just a prefix, “Schwiegervater” is father-in-law, “Schwiegermutter” is mother-in-law. Interestingly, “Schwager” is brother-in-law, “Schwaegerin” is sister-in-law.
What is the Yiddish for father, brother, and sister-in-law?
father-in-law = shver
sister-in-law = shvergerin
brother-in-law = shvoger
daughter-in-law = shnur
son-in-law = aydem
your child’s mother-in-law = mechuteneste
your child’s father-in-law = mechutin
–Rivkele
Thanks, Rivkele. Interesting that the sister and brother match the German, but the son and daughter and the last two bear no resemblance. I wonder if those came from the Hebrew?
If so, did they use Hebrew forms where they couldn’t find good German ones? Or German forms where Hebrew forms were lacking?
Or maybe Russian?
Only the children’s in-laws words are Hebrew, as far as I know. They’re from a not-often used word for marriage, “mechutin.” Actually, I’m not sure whether this word means “marriage,” or just “wedding.” “Chatan” is a bridegroom, and sometimes also is used for “son-in-law.”
I’m not sure about the others; “aydem” and “shnur” totally elude me. I hope to heck that “shnur” isn’t related to “shnorr,” a verb that means something like “mooch.”
–Rivkele
“Schnur” in German means string, which doesn’t seem enlightening vis a vis the in-law situation either.
Although some jokes beginning with “A string went into a bar” might become more meaningful using a little German/Yiddish 
Actually, I suppose “shnur” and “shnorr” could be related. They could both mean someone “strung,” or “tied” to you and your family.
“Shnorr” is used in Hebrew, but I don’t know whether it originated in Hebrew, or came to modern Hebrew by way of Yiddish. It sounds Yiddish, but I’m just guessing.
Where’s Dex? He usually knows stuff like this.
–Rivkele
Is there a female version/word for ‘schmendrick’?
Well, according to the literal definition of schmendrick, no 
Also, is this a record for oldest zombie? I’ve heard of the “Yiddish Revival”, but this is meshuggena.
Oy, I kvell.
Damn, this thread is so old no one had usernames.
Well we know @John_W.Kennedy and @Rivkele posted. And @Rowan and @tomndebb
In Hebrew, which is highly gendered and has a look history of adapting Yiddish word, we’d say “Schmendrickit”.
It is just a proper name, at the end of the day. Maybe you could find an analogous female character?
Sounds reasonable.
FWIW, the Yiddish words I know come from ‘60s and ‘70s TV shows (they seemed more common back then, in Southern California) and stand-up comedians.
Huh? It’s usually used as a mild insult akin to “fool”, but literally means “penis”. Per Wikipedia, which seems unaware of the literal meaning, it’s been used by Jewish humorists as the name of fictional characters, but I can’t imagine it’s any real person’s name.
Dick, Jock, and Peter might disagree, but perhaps it’s the fact that this is apparently in the opposite direction from English (body part 
name, not the other way around)?