Meanings
- Why should I worry?; I don't care.
"Guess I'll do some diving from the raft today," I said, pointedly, to Sonny. "Ish ka bibble," Sonny said.
1989, Helen Harris Perlman, The Dancing Clock, and Other Childhood Memories, page 952 more examples
Guess they thought we would crawfish, But there was never a word or a quibble ; When they offered us freights, among others, We said "Let 'em come, ish-ka-bibble."
1913, The Santa Fe Magazine - Volume 8, page 74Surveying your individual reasons, Nature remarks "Ish ka bibble" in a bored tone and goes on to run the square and the level over the job.
1914, Steam Machinery: A Magazine of Men, Machinery and Methods
Origin
Supposedly a borrowing from Yiddish, with disputed origins. One theory is that it is a corruption of the German nicht gefiedelt ("not flustered"). Another possibility is that it comes from German ich kaan bedibbert ("I am abashed"). Possibly a fake Yiddishism.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
ish ka bibble. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ish%20ka%20bibble
“ish ka bibble.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ish%20ka%20bibble. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ish ka bibble,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ish%20ka%20bibble.
Source: ish ka bibble on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.