This study analyzes sociolinguistic variation through Australians’ and Americans’ self-reported familiarity with English lexical items derived from Jewish languages like Yiddish, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Analysis is based on an online survey of 611 participants, adapted from a similar survey of Jewish American English conducted by Benor (2011). This study explores knowledge of the terms “shmooze” and “chutzpah” amongst Jewish and non-Jewish populations in Australia and the United States. Both “shmooze” and “chutzpah” have multiple meanings in English, familiarity with which might be expected to differ according to Jewish and national identity. Results suggest that while Jewish and non-Jewish participants in both countries share familiarity with some senses of these terms, other senses are more familiar to specific communities like Jewish Australians. In analyzing how ethnoreligious and national identity correlate with different meanings of these terms, I argue more broadly for the efficacy of variationist sociolinguistic study of lexical items, especially in cases of dispersed or diasporic language communities.