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Shmuel Leib Melamud

basic shlepology So, is Woody Allen a shlemiel or a shlep? Is Felix Unger a shnook or a nebbish? And what of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman? The list of words that have come to describe the, um, so- cially challenged is long. Here are just a few: SHLEMIEL: A foolish or unlucky person; a hard-luck type, a submissive and uncomplain- ing victim. "The shlemiel falls on his back and breaks his nose, " says a Yiddish proverb. SHLEP: A drag, a drip. See also shlepper. SHLIMAZL: A chronically unlucky person. A shlemiel, the adage goes, always spills the hot soup, and the shlimazl is the one he spills it on. SHOOK: A timid shlemiel, pathetic but likable, says Rosten: "If not likable, he would probably be called a shmuck." NERD: A dull or unattractive person, dedi- cated to a non-social pursuit: A computer nerd. NUDNIK: A pest, an annoyer, a monumental bore. Possibly from the Russian nudna. NEBBISH: A pitifully ineffectual, inept and timid person. SHMEGEGGE: A cross, aceording to Rosten, between a shlimazl and a shlemiel, or maybe even between a nudnik and a nebbish. An unad- mirable, petty person, a whiner, a drip. WIMP: A weak, ineffectual, timid person. SHMENDRICK: A kind of shlemiel, but weaker — perhaps an apprentice shlemiel. SHMO: A boob. An English creation that sub- stitutes for the racier shmuck. / 1l SOURCES: "The Joys of Yiddish," by Leo Rosten, Random House Webster's College Dictionary
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