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What does the Yiddish term schmuck mean?
Save to list. Boy. Hebrew. Short for Samuel or Samantha, from the Biblical name Shemu’el, which means “God has heard”, from the Hebrew shama, meaning “heard” and el, meaning “God”.
What is the difference between a schmuck and putz?
In Jewish, a schmuck and a putz are both about stupid people. The difference is that a schmuck is out for number one, and a putz doesn’t know his kop from his tuches.
What country is Shmuel from?
Shmuel is a nine-year-old Jewish boy who has been imprisoned in Out-With (Auschwitz) Camp along with his grandfather, father, and brother. Shmuel’s family used to live in another part of Poland, where daily life underwent a series of chilling changes.
Is Schmutz a Yiddish?
Schmutz (Yiddish) Usually schmutz means something unidentifiable, rather than what’s left on the baby’s face after eating strawberries (because duh, it’s strawberries). It’s another great word for kids.
What is a schmuck foreskin?
(vulgar) The removed and discarded foreskin after circumcision. (pejorative) An item or person that is considered useless.
What is the difference between a schmuck and a schmo?
Among the many Yiddish words that have become part of the English language are schmo and schmuck. Dictionaries describe a schmo as a jerk and a schmuck as a contemptible person.
Why did Shmuel and his family wear an armband?
Shmuel explained that he used to live with his parents and his brother Josef in an apartment above the store where his father mended and made watches. One day, he came home to find his mother sewing armbands with stars on them. She explained they would each have to wear an armband whenever they left the house.
What was Shmuel’s father’s job?
Importantly, this stems from their fathers’ positions in society, positions which it seems fair to connect to their ethno-religious identities: Bruno’s father is a German working for Hitler, while Shmuel’s father is a Jewish man trying to hack it in an anti-Semitic world, even before the Holocaust begins.
What is the Yiddish word for family?
“Mishpacha” is such a seemingly straightforward Hebrew word—it means family. Older members of the Jewish community may know its Yiddish version “mishpokhe” pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable.
What is a schlemiel in Yiddish?
Schlemiel (Yiddish: שלומיאל; sometimes spelled shlemiel or shlumiel) 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.
What food item has Shmuel only had once in his life?
Shmuel says they don’t play, and Bruno is confused as to why they don’t. Shmuel asks Bruno if he has any food, and Bruno says he was going to bring chocolate but forgot. Shmuel says he only ever had chocolate once, and Bruno says he loves it but that Mother tells him it will rot his teeth.
What is Maria’s religion in the boy in the striped pajamas?
Maria is the maid who moves to Out-With with Bruno’s family. Her mother worked as Father’s mother’s seamstress, and Father offered her a job when she was destitute. Maria is Jewish but father seems to favor her.
What does Plotz mean in Yiddish?
In Yiddish, the verb plotz means to crack, burst, shatter, collapse, or explode. Its most common English usage is in reference to a person who is bursting with emotion, either negative of positive.
Why do we spell “Platz” as “Plotz”?
Although the words are identical in Yiddish (פלאץ), for whatever reason, English writers spell the exploding verb as plotz and the grounded noun as platz. The sages teach us that it’s not the place (or platz) that defines the man, but the person who gives meaning and significance to his location.
What does Schmutz mean in Judaism?
Cleanliness is an important value in Judaism, and a word like schmutz (and its related adjective schmutzike) can be used to refer to the literal washing of hands and also keeping one’s self figuratively clean (refraining from cursing, for example).
What is a good sentence for Plotz?
: to burst with or be overcome by strong emotion He had long, curly hair and dangling earrings … . I knew my friends would plotz if they saw him. — Marjorie Ingall We … plotzed with pleasure over our makeshift breakfast.