For those interested in the history of how the Yiddishism of adding a second made up word after a word by changing the first syllable of that first word to a “shm” sound has pervaded the English language, I have a guest “From the Vaults” post up on Bob From Brockley’s blog. It does include one of the most famous usages of this formulation: ‘Cancer, shmancer, abi gezunt’- ‘Cancer, shmancer, as long as you’re healthy.’ Comments from aficionados of this use of language are welcome.
