Aaugh! Tweety's words: 'mensch' and 'MENSCHDOM'

[PCIntern]

Who TF does he think he is?

[babylonsister]

1. What's wrong with that?

Mensch (Yiddish מענטש; also mentsch, mentsh, mensh, or mench, plural - mentchen) is a German noun meaning a "human".

In Yiddish (from which the word has migrated into American English), mensch roughly means "a good person." A "mensch" is a particularly good person, like "a stand-up guy," a person with the qualities one would hope for in a dear friend or trusted colleague. According to author and Yiddish popularist Leo Rosten,

mensch is a someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character. The key to being "a real mensch" is nothing less than character, rectitude, dignity, a sense of what is right, responsible, decorous. (Rosten, Leo. 1968. The Joys of Yiddish. New York: Pocket Books. 237)

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

3. Thank you for this. Growing up with my parents slipping in Yiddish words I knew

from early on that saying someone was a mensch was one of the greatest compliments you could say about them.

[babylonsister]

5. I'm a native NYer and heard Yiddish words all my life, too,

though I'm not Jewish. Where WOULD I be without 'oy vey'! :)

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

6. laughing here! Doesn't it feel great to say that? It's a great energy release! eom

[PCIntern]

4. Yeah..uh-huh.

I grew up in a household where 40% of the language spoken by my parents was Yiddish. People saying phrases like: "putzing around" are an anathema to us - it's a misuse of the language - there is no such phrase and where TF does 'Menschdom' come from?. He comes out with this sruff like he's a member of the tribe and is so uncomfortable in the use that you have to wonder what he's up to.

Just let me say: I find Tweety an abomination. I know some here don't feel that way and he's converting, as some say, on the Cross right now. Suddenly, he's all for checks and balances. Screw him.

[Igel]

10. "Putzing" is a Yiddish word?

Who knew Yiddish had a present progressive suffix '-ing'?

Otherwise 'putz' was borrowed into English, and at that point is an English word. As long as what we do with it conforms to English grammar, it's ok. We have a singular 'tamale' (Span. says 'tamal'). We treat agenda as a singular (when it's a plural), and make 'agendas' its (new) English plural. We don't insist on the plural of 'professor' being 'professores'. (We still follow the source language's rules for a few things. Blond(e) or emeritus/i/a/ae.)

We do the same with 'mensch'. I must say, though, "mensch-hood" sounds better to my ears ... writing it is a bit of a bear.

Just the way speakers borrow words from other languages. You wouldn't want to see what Russian does ... and Arabic? Oy, 'bank' has the Arabic plural 'bunuuk'.

[badgerpup]

13. ...and UP from the nebulous pool of trivia...

...was it Arabic that the term 'bankrupt' came from?

I seem to remember it as originally meaning 'bench-broke'...when in the marketplace the stall or bench where you did your dealings was broken up by your unhappy customers and creditors...
:shrug::freak:

[Skidmore]

2. He's a putz.

[PCIntern]

7. Putz-deluxe.

A real phony: says he's from Philly constantly, is reviled here. Says he worked for Tip O'Neill and then blasts the Dems.

A real schmegeggy.

[Karenina]

8. He's also a schmuck.

[htuttle]

9. The 'putz' part is just a cover

He's really a nebbish.

[JVS]

11. The word is Menschheit

[PCIntern]

12. Yes and the other word is

Shithead.

Tweety is just an insufferable shithead.