[fibernet] Re: babushka & bubby

[n_slutsky]

Miriam,
yes there is Ladino, spoken by Shepardic Jews.  Around here I knew
some  from Turkey, family had gone there during the Spanish
Inquisition.  My Ashkenazi relatives spoke a Yiddish that was so close
to German that my friends who knew German thought they had a really
cute accent.  I do not think babushka was related to the traditional
Jewish headcovering, but was slang, related to what a Russian
grandmother might wear.  so I was told as a kid. My best info, from
people who spoke Yiddish, Russian, Hebrew and English, at various
levels of skill. 
It seems to have entered the English language as a head scarf.
Nancy