Shmendrik (Yiddish: שמענדריק), also rendered as schmendrick or shmendrick is a Yiddish word meaning a stupid person or a little hapless jerk ("a pathetic sad sack"[1]). 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.[2][3] The play was inspired by a sketch presented by Mogulesco at an audition before Goldfaden.[citation needed] 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", also an opposite to mentsh (a "real" man). [4]

Notable usages

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Etiquette for Schmucks, Schlemiels, Schlimazels and Schmendriks, Forward, May 12, 2010
  2. ^ shmendrik, Jewish English Lexicon
  3. ^ schmendrick, Oxford English Dictionary
  4. ^ The Joys of Yiddish: p. 353
  5. ^ Beagle, Peter S. (2007). The Last Unicorn. Deluxe Edition. New York: Roc Books. ISBN 978-0-7607-8374-0