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#14597 01/04/2001 6:33 PM
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taf
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stranger
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I recently ran across the word "tsotchkes" in a book and I have been unable to find any definition of same. Can anyone help me?



#14598 01/04/2001 6:37 PM
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Carpal Tunnel
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could you be meaning "tchotchke", knickknack, trinket, gimcrack, whigmaleerie, etc?


#14599 01/04/2001 8:41 PM
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You'll find different spellings. It's another word from Yiddish. Stuff, junk, odds 'n' ends.


#14600 01/04/2001 8:44 PM
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Yes, that must be the word . . . guess I just "mis remembered" the spelling. Do you have any idea of its origin?


#14601 01/04/2001 11:19 PM
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Carpal Tunnel
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I know it's from Yiddish, but I'll leave the etymology search to tsuwm, already.


#14602 01/05/2001 12:18 AM
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OED gives two (2) major sp. variants: tsatske, tchotchke

[a. Yiddish, f. Slavonic (cf. Russ. tsatska).]
A trinket or gewgaw; transf., a pretty girl. Also "tsatskeleh [Yiddish -le dim. suff.], an affectionate diminutive of tsatske.

the first citation is from 1964(!) and this from:
1968 L. Rosten Joys of Yiddish 408 Tsatske and tchotchke are used interchangeably.+ At one time+West End Avenue in New York had an inordinately high proportion of tchotchkies.

so we're left to wonder if he meant gewgaws or pretty girls...


#14603 01/05/2001 3:47 PM
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Is there a strong correlation between gewgaws and pretty girls? (leering male chauvinist pig emoticon)



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