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tsuwm #203862 12/19/11 01:57 PM
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
'correctly' englishing Yiddish is much like targeting that ol' rolling donut

Yes, Yiddish שםאָק (shmok) > English schmuck /'ʃmʌk/ 'prick; fool'. You see the same thing in Yiddish פאָץ (pots) 'penis' > English putz /'pʌts/ 'prick; fool'. I have seen the same sort of thing in German where English punk (either the music or one of its fans) > German Pank.

It is interesting that in Yiddish these two words for the male genitalia have become so much more used for foolish persons that new terms for penis have developed: shmekl and petsl, with diminutive suffix -l.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
zmjezhd #203871 12/20/11 02:02 AM
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,706
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,706
a little of the subject I know....
but the word 'prick' came up in conversation the other day..with some (African) people and we googled it because the innuendo was new to them. Well there were over 1000 meaning for the word penis. Why so many!!

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