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Schmuck (pejorative)
Schmuck, or shmuck, is a pejorative term meaning one who is stupid or foolish, or an obnoxious, contemptible or detestable person. The word came into the English language from Yiddish (, ''shmok''), where it has similar pejorative meanings, but where its literal meaning is a vulgar term for a penis. Etymology The Yiddish word ''shmok'' probably derives from Old Polish '' smok'' "grass snake, dragon". It is unrelated to the German word ''Schmuck'' ('jewelry'), which derives from the Middle High German word 'smucken', meaning 'nestle up'. Euphemisms Because of its generally being considered a vulgarity, the word is often euphemized as ''schmoe'', which was the source of Al Capp's cartoon strip creature the shmoo.Rosten, Leo. ''The Joys of Yiddish''. New York, Pocket Books, 1968. pp. 360-362 Other variants include ''schmo'' and ''shmo''. In Jewish-American culture Leo Rosten writes in ''The Joys of Yiddish'' that schmuck is commonly viewed among Jews as an obscene word that sho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pejorative
A pejorative word, phrase, slur, or derogatory term is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a term is regarded as pejorative in some social or ethnic groups but not in others or may be originally pejorative but later adopt a non-pejorative sense (or vice versa) in some or all contexts. Etymology The word ''pejorative'' is derived from a Late Latin past participle stem of ', meaning "to make worse", from ' "worse". Pejoration and melioration In historical linguistics, the process of an inoffensive word becoming pejorative is a form of semantic drift known as pejoration. An example of pejoration is the shift in meaning of the word '' silly'' from meaning that a person was happy and fortunate to meaning that they are foolish and unsophisticated. The process of pejoration can repeat itself around ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schmendrik
Shmendrik (), also rendered as schmendrick or shmendrick is a Yiddish word meaning a stupid person or a little hapless jerk ("a pathetic sad sack"). Its origin is the name of a clueless mama's boy played by Sigmund Mogulesko in an 1877 comedy ''Shmendrik, oder di komishe Chaseneh'' (''Schmendrik or The Comical Wedding'') by Abraham Goldfaden. The play was inspired by a sketch presented by Mogulesco at an audition before Goldfaden. Since then the word was often used as a name in the works of Jewish humour. Regarding the perception of the word, ''The Joys of Yiddish'' lexicon stresses the meagerness of shmendrick compared to other Jewish ''schm-''words for luckless persons: "A shmendrik is a small, short, weak, thin, a young ''nebekh''". This is directly opposite to ''mentsh'' (more commonly spelled as "mensch") which, in short, means a "real" man of upstanding character and a person to emulate. Notable usages *''Shmendrik, oder di komishe Chaseneh'', original usage * Shmendrick ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yiddish Words And Phrases
Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with many elements taken from Hebrew (notably Mishnaic) and to some extent Aramaic. Most varieties of Yiddish include elements of Slavic languages and the vocabulary contains traces of Romance languages.Aram Yardumian"A Tale of Two Hypotheses: Genetics and the Ethnogenesis of Ashkenazi Jewry".University of Pennsylvania. 2013. Yiddish has traditionally been written using the Hebrew alphabet. Prior to World War II, there were 11–13 million speakers. 85% of the approximately 6 million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust were Yiddish speakers,Solomon Birnbaum, ''Grammatik der jiddischen Sprache'' (4., erg. Aufl., Hamburg: Buske, 1984), p. 3. leading to a massive decline in the use of the language. Assimilation following World War II and ''a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of United States Marine Corps Acronyms And Expressions
This is a list of acronyms, expressions, euphemisms, jargon, military slang, and sayings in ''common'' or ''formerly common use'' in the United States Marine Corps. Many of the words or phrases have varying levels of acceptance among different units or communities, and some also have varying levels of appropriateness (usually dependent on how senior the user is in rank). Many terms also have equivalents among other service branches that are not acceptable among Marines, but are comparable in meaning. Many acronyms and terms have come into common use from voice procedure use over communication channels, translated into the phonetic alphabet, or both. Many are or derive from nautical terms and other naval terminology. Most vehicles and aircraft have a formal acronym or an informal nickname; those are detailed in their own articles. The scope of this list is to include words and phrases that are unique to or predominantly used by the Marine Corps or the United States Naval Servic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yimakh Shemo
() is a Hebrew curse placed after the name of particular enemies of the Jewish people, or on rare occasions, after the name of evildoing Jews. A variant is (). Usage The term, although Hebrew, may be inserted as a set phrase in languages other than Hebrew, including Yiddish, for example, "''Dos iz a kol-boynik, yemakh-shmoy!''" ("He is a scoundrel, ''yemakh-shmoy''!") and English. When the phrase is used in English of plurals the Hebrew plural ''-am'' ("their names and their memories" ''yimach shemam ve-zichram'') is applied. The epithet may be abbreviated as "Y. S." in some English texts. In Hebrew the abbreviation is () The curse connects with examples of erasure of names in other cultures. It has been called "the classic Jewish curse". Biblical origin: Psalms Haman and Amalek The phrase has its origins in Psalm 109 verse 13. 13 May his end be to be cut off; in another generation may their name be blotted out. יגיְהִֽי־אַֽחֲרִית֥וֹ לְהַכְרִ֑י ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Shmoe
Joe Shmoe (also spelled Joe Schmoe and Joe Schmo), meaning "Joe Anybody", or no one in particular, is a commonly used fictional name in American English. Adding a "Shm" to the beginning of a word is meant to diminish, negate, or dismiss an argument (for instance, "Rain, shmain, we've got a game to play"). It can also indicate that the speaker is being ironic or sarcastic. This process was adapted in English from the use of the "schm" prefix in Yiddish to dismiss something; as in, "sale, schmale" (thus denying that the sale is worthwhile). While " schmo" ("schmoo", "schmoe") is thought by some linguists to be a clipping of Yiddish שמוק "schmuck", that derivation is disputed. See also * Average Joe * Joe Bloggs * John Doe * John Q. Public * Man on the street *Man on the Clapham omnibus *Placeholder name Placeholder names are intentionally overly generic and ambiguous terms referring to things, places, or people, the names of which or of whom do not actually exist; are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prostitution
Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penetrative sex, manual sex, oral sex, etc.) with the customer. The requirement of physical contact also creates the risk of transferring infections. Prostitution is sometimes described as sexual services, commercial sex or, colloquially, hooking. It is sometimes referred to euphemistically as "the world's oldest profession" in the English-speaking world. A person who works in the field is usually called a prostitute or '' sex worker'', but other words, such as hooker and whore, are sometimes used pejoratively to refer to those who work in prostitution. The majority of prostitutes are female and have male clients. Prostitution occurs in a variety of forms, and its legal status varies from country to country (sometimes from region ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wrestling
Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves different grappling-type techniques, such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins, and other grappling holds. Many different wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat sports, and military systems. Wrestling comes in different forms, the most popular being professional wrestling, which is a form of athletic theatre. Other legitimateThe term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to predetermined professional wrestling, which is very different from the legitimate (or real-life) wrestling combat predominantly detailed in this article. competitive forms include Greco-Roman, freestyle, judo, sambo, folkstyle, catch, shoot, luta livre, submission, sumo, pehl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bodybuilding
Bodybuilding is the practice of Resistance training, progressive resistance exercise to build, control, and develop one's skeletal muscle, muscles via muscle hypertrophy, hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. It is primarily undertaken for aesthetic purposes over functional ones, distinguishing it from similar activities such as powerlifting and calisthenics. In competitive bodybuilding, competitors appear onstage in line-ups and perform specified poses (and later individual posing routines) for a panel of judges who rank them based on conditioning, muscularity, posing, size, stage presentation, and symmetry. Bodybuilders prepare for competitions by exercising and eliminating non-essential body fat. This is enhanced at the final stage by a combination of carbohydrate loading and dehydration to achieve maximum muscle definition and vascularity. Most bodybuilders also Sun tanning, tan and shave their bodies prior to competition. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of the longest-running newspapers in the United States, the ''Times'' serves as one of the country's Newspaper of record, newspapers of record. , ''The New York Times'' had 9.13 million total and 8.83 million online subscribers, both by significant margins the List of newspapers in the United States, highest numbers for any newspaper in the United States; the total also included 296,330 print subscribers, making the ''Times'' the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States, following ''The Wall Street Journal'', also based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' is published by the New York Times Company; since 1896, the company has been chaired by the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose current chairman and the paper's publ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of English Words Of Yiddish Origin
This is a list of words that have entered the English language from the Yiddish language, many of them by way of American English. There are differing approaches to the romanization of Yiddish orthography (which uses the Hebrew alphabet); thus, the spelling of some of the words in this list may be variable (for example, is a variant of , and , ). Background Yiddish is a Germanic language, originally spoken by Jews in Central and later Eastern Europe, written in the Hebrew alphabet, and containing a substantial substratum of Hebrew words as well as numerous loans from Slavic languages. For that reason, some of the words listed originated in Hebrew or Slavic languages, but have entered English via Yiddish. Yiddish is closely related to modern German, and many Yiddish words have German cognates; in some cases it is difficult to tell whether a particular word was borrowed from Yiddish or from German. Yiddish is written in the Hebrew alphabet, and Yiddish words may be translitera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schlemiel
Schlemiel (; sometimes spelled shlemiel) is a Yiddish term meaning "inept/incompetent person" or "fool". It is a common archetype in Jewish humor, and so-called "''schlemiel'' jokes" depict the ''schlemiel'' falling into unfortunate situations. Meaning The inept ''schlemiel'' is often presented alongside the unlucky ''schlimazel''. A Yiddish saying explains that "a ''schlemiel'' is somebody who often spills his soup and a ''schlimazel'' is the person it lands on". The ''schlemiel'' is similar to the '' schmuck'' but, as stated in a 2010 essay in ''The Forward'', a ''schmuck'' can improve himself while "a schlemiel, a schlimazel and a schmendrik are irredeemably what they are". The etymology of the term is unsure. Ernest Klein in his ''Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language'' suggests that the word comes from the Hebrew term , meaning "useless". Another theory is that the word is derived from the name Shelumiel, an Israelite chieftain. Heyse and some other etymologists ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
