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Definitely a word with two meanings, one high German (a Schmuckler is a jewel merchant , no more and no less), and one more colloquial, about which we are now all sniggering gently (yes, yes, honi whatever) . You can see its evolution from refined to bawdy through the picturesque intermediary of "the family jewels". There is a hilarious scene in the old movie _One, Two, Three_, set in West Berlin, about a Coca-Cola magnate's daughter and a would-be East Berlin revolutionary (played by Horst Buchholtz, as I recall) exploiting just this ambiguity.
It's interesting that even schmuck-the-bawdy has a negative and a positive meaning - one the insult, the-word-you-can't-say-on-television (as in plain old "You schmuck''), and the other connoting a certain fondness for a hapless, unfortunate, generally well-meaning bumbler (usually "You poor schmuck" ).
Ain't language(s) wonderful?
Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted putz wwh 12/19/01 06:38 PM Re: p*tz Keiva 12/19/01 06:49 PM Max Quordlepleen 12/19/01 06:53 PM Re: putz wwh 12/19/01 07:11 PM Re: putz wwh 12/19/01 07:27 PM Good schm*ck / bad schm*ck wofahulicodoc 12/19/01 11:54 PM Re: Schmuck, shmuk Faldage 12/20/01 02:12 PM Re: p*tz Keiva 12/20/01 04:00 AM Re: putz TEd Remington 12/19/01 07:30 PM Re: putz wwh 12/19/01 08:16 PM Re: p*tz Keiva 12/19/01 08:20 PM Re: p*tz wwh 12/19/01 08:28 PM Re: putz tsuwm 12/19/01 08:28 PM Re: putz wwh 12/19/01 08:30 PM Re: putz tsuwm 12/19/01 08:36 PM Re: putz wwh 12/19/01 09:00 PM Re: putz Rapunzel 12/19/01 09:03 PM Re: putz wwh 12/19/01 09:14 PM Re: p*tz Keiva 12/20/01 12:06 AM Re: p*tz tsuwm 12/20/01 03:55 AM Re: p*tz Keiva 12/20/01 04:32 AM
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