In Yiddish, "yenta" is a slang term for an altruistic busybody - the sort of person who knows just who you should go to or what you should do when a problem or question arises. Sort of like a combination of the "connectors" and "mavens" that Malcolm Gladwell describes in his excellent book, "The Tipping Point," but operating in cyber-space a good deal of the time.

The term was created to describe me by my friend John McNutt, presumably as a combination of "cyber-space" and "yenta."  However, the last time I asked him about it he denied any recollection of the incident.

Bonus Question

Q:  How did you, a Jewish woman, acquire the typically Irish-Catholic surname "Finn?"

A:  It is a long story, fraught with historical and existential ironies.  Suffice it to say that my paternal grandfather changed to family name from "Finkelstein" to "Finn."  My birth certificate says "Deborah Elizabeth Finn," and that's the name I use.