Schmuck was once considered so offensive that people had to invent a politer alternative
A shop on New York City’s Lower East Side in 1940 is covered with signs written in Yiddish. Like Hiberno-English, Yiddish is a language rich in insult. Photograph: Charles Phelps Cushing/Getty Images
So where in this, I wondered, is the basis of the popular Yiddish term of abuse, schmuck? You know – the word that means variously “idiot”, “detestable fellow”, or “penis”? Well, apparently, etymologists don’t know either.Head over heels – Alison Healy on cupid’s arrow From the same corner of the dictionary as schmuck, for example, comes schlep, schlub, schlemiel, and schlimazel.
But yes, sure enough, there is also a related Yiddish noun describing underachievement: schlep being short for schlepper, on “an inept and stupid person”.
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