Follow TV Tropes

Following

Discussion Main / YiddishAsASecondLanguage

Go To

You will be notified by PM when someone responds to your discussion
Type the word in the image. This goes away if you get known.
If you can't read this one, hit reload for the page.
The next one might be easier to see.
GuesssWho Madwoman Apparent Since: Jan, 2001
Madwoman Apparent
Nov 21st 2011 at 3:26:19 AM •••

Is it just me, or does Yiddish have as many words for 'loser' as the Eskimos do for snow? Putz, yutz, schmuck, shlep, shmoe, schlimazel, shlemiel, klutz, shmendrik, shmeggegie . . .

Hide / Show Replies
Khurzog Since: Dec, 2014
Dec 21st 2014 at 5:52:19 PM •••

A few corrections for you: Shlep means to carry, as a heavy load, or oneself

Shlemiel and klutz are somewhat synonyous, in that they both describe somene who is accident-prone. However, shlemiel has deeper undertones of someone whose accidents cause greater harm to those around him/her (hence the old phrase "A shlemiel is someone who keeps spilling their soup down the shirt of a shlimazel!")

Shlimazel, from the Hebrew for luck (מזל, mazel). See above. In Troper, a shlimazel is the Woobie, or even going so far as the Cosmic Plaything.

"So they want to kill my men? Well two can play at that game."
MikeRosoft Since: Jan, 2001
Jun 10th 2011 at 11:24:20 PM •••

Removed:

  • [Re: The Joker, in Batman: The Animated Series]
    • Justified. However few people can speak it fluently anymore, Yiddish has tons of wonderfully colorful terms for expressing emotions. And, of course, there is the Undead Horse Trope stereotyping comedians as Ashkenazi New Yorkers...
      • "Few people can speak it fluently?" There are whole communities where Yiddish is the vernacular!
      • "Few people can speak it fluently?" You don't live in Israel. When you pass here, go to Bene Berak (Bnei Brak). You'll hear more Yiddish than Hebrew.

Long live Marxism-Lennonism!
Top