In the German language the word Schmuck means "jewelry, adornment".[2] The etymology of the pejorative meaning is a matter of some disagreement. The lexicographer Michael Wex, author of How to Be a Mentsh (And Not a Shmuck), writes that the Yiddish term and the German term are completely unrelated. "Basically, the Yiddish word comes out of baby talk," according to Wex. "A little boy’s penis is a shtekl, a 'little stick'. Shtekl became shmeckle, in a kind of baby-rhyming thing, and shmeckle became shmuck. Shmeckle is prepubescent and not a dirty word, but shmuck, the non-diminutive, became obscene."[3] According to Leo Rosten in "Hooray for Yiddish!", the pejorative use of the German "schmuck" derives from Schmock, which is closer to the original
Yiddish word: and the transition of the word from meaning "jewel" to meaning "penis" is related to the description of a man's genitals as "the family jewels".[4] The Online Etymology Dictionary indicates that the term derives from Eastern Yiddish shmok, literally "penis", from Old Polish smok, "grass snake, dragon",[5] but Rosten cites Dr. Shlomo Noble of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research as saying that shmok derives from shmuck, and not the other way around.[6]
The origin and birth place of the term “heebie-jeebies” is surprisingly a comic strip. However, the term did not start out spelled the same way it is now, instead of “heebie-jeebies” it was once spelled, “heeby jeebys”. Cartoonist Morgan “Billy” de Beck used the term in one of his cartoons featured in the New York American. Morgan’s cartoon character uttered, “You dumb ox - why don't you get that stupid look offa your pan - you gimme the heeby jeebys!” (New York American, 26th October, 1923) Soon after its appearance “heebie-jeebies” began to spread throughout the nation and even the world. Not long after the first appearance of the term did the “heebie-jeebies” start showing up in advertisements such as radio commercials, newspapers, and even in store windows.
Many people have life changing revelations in their lives, but very few people are as young as Jared when he realizes what he does about his life. Ron Rash wrote the short story, "The Ascent," about a young boy's journey that brought him to have a significant revelation about his life. In the story, Rash uses a naive narrator, foreshadowing, and imagery to show the setting of the story that led to Jared's revelation about his life.
Common sense seems to dictate that commercials just advertise products. But in reality, advertising is a multi-headed beast that targets specific genders, races, ages, etc. In “Men’s Men & Women’s Women”, author Steve Craig focuses on one head of the beast: gender. Craig suggests that, “Advertisers . . . portray different images to men and women in order to exploit the different deep seated motivations and anxieties connected to gender identity.” In other words, advertisers manipulate consumers’ fantasies to sell their product. In this essay, I will be analyzing four different commercials that focuses on appealing to specific genders.
In the story, The Natural, certain characters and events are portrayed in a distinctive way that makes this story unique to other books and shows the typical writing style of the narrator. The author uses a repetitive writing technique that is impossible to overlook. The writer of this book is able to catch the reader’s eye with his concept of the importance of beautiful description. The Natural, by Bernard Malamud, uses great imagery that makes the story appealing.
Barbara Ehrenreich, in The Hearts Of Men, illustrates how gender roles have highly constricted men, not just women, and therefore have inhibited American society from developing its full potential. She deviates from conventional wisdom, which says that gender roles have been largely detrimental to only half the population, which is simultaneously confined to working in the domestic sphere and prevented from participating in the public realm. Her theory says that Americans subscribe to a "sexuo-economic system" which reduces men to "mere earning mechanisms" and forces women to "become parasitic wives" (6, 4). As she explains, members of both sexes adhere to a system which forces them to succumb to specific gender roles, which in turn prevent them from becoming their true selves. Thus, every American has a vested interest in restructuring the ways men and women interact.
The first time I had ever heard the word ratchet was at my work at Surrender. It was being referred toward a girl who was drunk, the exact sentence was, “Man that girl is acting really ratchet, and she is all over the place.” Having no idea what the word meant, I let it go. As time went on, I started to hear it more and more as for the word seemed to be everywhere by then. Discovering that Ratchet was only being used toward at Women who are acting obnoxious, I had a pretty good assumption of what the word meant. The word would...
The n-word evolved from the word “negro,” meaning “black,” as early as the 17th century as intentionally derogatory (Price, “Straight Talk About the N-Word”). “Faggot” originated with the Middle English “fagot,” meaning a bundle of sticks that was usually burdensome (dictionary.com). This word then became a term for a contemptible woman circa 1590, and circa 1910, the word picked up a ‘g’ and became a highly derogatory reference to flamboyant, gay men (dictionary.com). This word, in particular, could be speculated to have been chosen for gay men because they were a contemptible burden on society at the time. “Slut” originated in 1402 as a slovenly, untidy woman; later in the 15th century, the near modern usage of “a sexually promiscuous woman” appeared. (dictionary.com). The scarlet letter Hester wears is modeled after centuries of shameful branding. In England, under the Poor Law Act of 1697, after receiving relief from their parish, the poor were required to wear a badge of blue or red cloth in an open and visible manner. This was meant to discourage them from collecting additional aid unless they were highly desperate, as few people wanted to be seen doing this while wearing such a “shameful” branding (Hindle, “Dependency, Shame and Belonging: Badging the Deserving Poor,
The word bitch came from the old English word, “bicce”, meaning female dog. According to The Oxford English dictionary, the definition of bitch, as female dog, was used until 1000 A.D. In 1837, the word bitch became an insult. The derogatory connotation of the word appeared when women were compared to dogs. For example, the word bitch “suggested high sexual desire in a woman, comparable to a dog in heat” or “someone who is belligerent, unreasonable, rudely intrusive or aggressive” ("Bitch(insult)") similar to a dog protecting her young. In 1920, the word began to grow in popularity.
"What MISTERROOSEVELT Is Saying." : The Suprising Origins of the Word "Thug" N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
Schmuck, according to Webster Dictionary, is a noun meaning “a foolish or contemptible person” - also a pejorative word expressing content or disapproval(Webster Dictionary). Originating from its Yiddish roots, Schmuck originally was spelled as shmok meaning penis though was changed to the current meaning in the late 19th century.
The name scurvy comes from the Latin scorbutus, humans have known about scurvy since ancient Greek and egyptian times, Scurvy is most commonly associated with sailors in the 16th -18th centuries who navigated long voyages without enough vitamin C, scurvy is very rare in the modern world.
The word Sephardic originates from the word Sepharad, which means Spain in Hebrew. Sephardic Jews are those who have immigrated from countries in the
Living in New York, you have to fight for everything you want. This explains how the slang can be passed on through trying to be cool/ thougy and just and everyday life thing. Think about in Texans. Not many Americans say the word “Y'all”. This is part of a Texan slang, which is passed from family to family. We have no thought of the fact that it is not an everyday word for for everyone else. That is partially why New York talks in an “ancient’ or in a different way that we may not usually speak. All squeaky hears is the way “new yorker’s” talk. Therefore, that is how she speaks. Squeaky notes, “The big kids call me Mercury cause I’m the swiftest thing in the neighborhood.” So, as the old saying goes, “It takes a village to raise a
Blast. Looks like I've still got a lot to learn. Moving on. SMH typically stands for “shaking my head,” although it can also be used to mean “stupid minded humans” or “so much hate.”Feb 26, 2015If you've been online or received a text that made you wonder what SMH means, all you really need to know is that it stands for "shaking my head." It's a popular online acronym that teens and young adults love to type into their social media posts or in text messages to express the same physical body language of shaking their head in disappointment.