Author Topic: schlock  (Read 7118 times)

2dognight

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schlock
« on: September 18, 2016, 07:22:25 PM »
now here is a word I have never heard before.  Have a feeling I am going to get .a yiddish dictionary.

anona

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Re: schlock
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2016, 11:20:03 PM »
Me neither, she said ungrammatically. Perhaps we need to be Jewish Americans?

cmh

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Re: schlock
« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2016, 01:13:57 AM »
I got it but then for many years I had a thing about reading novels set in New York's Jewish community.

nineoaks

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Re: schlock
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2016, 02:49:51 AM »
Schlock:One of those highly useful Yiddish words (schlock, schlep, schlemiel, schmaltz, chutzpah, glitch, klutz, shtick, spiel, maven, kvetch, etc.)
Love 'em all!

9Oaks

Alan W

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Re: schlock
« Reply #4 on: September 19, 2016, 04:50:10 PM »
Some previous discussions on schl- words from the Yiddish: schlep and schlemiel.
Alan Walker
Creator of Lexigame websites

Les303

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Re: schlock
« Reply #5 on: September 19, 2016, 05:54:01 PM »
I notice that nineoaks has very politely omitted ' schlong ' from her list.

I recall that Trump used the term " schlonged " to describe a recent defeat of Clinton.

In general , i do find it both puzzling & fascinating that some words which were once only whispered in corners ,due to their sexual meaning , are now used in everyday conversations & publications.

A few examples that come to mind would be ' screwed ' , ' sucks ' & of course the ' f word 'which are all used extensively to describe any number of situations all without any sexual overtones.
 
It would appear to me that we have simply become desensitised to foul language & would you agree with my fear that the same attitude seems to be emerging toward violence.?




Les303

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Re: schlock
« Reply #6 on: September 19, 2016, 05:58:39 PM »
Sorry 2dognight , forgot to say hello , welcome & congratulations on your first post on the forum

mkenuk

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Re: schlock
« Reply #7 on: September 19, 2016, 06:10:03 PM »
I notice that nineoaks has very politely omitted ' schlong ' from her list.


This word was actually discussed in the Forum a few years ago.

https://theforum.lexigame.com/index.php/topic,2620.0.html

MK

birdy

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Re: schlock
« Reply #8 on: September 20, 2016, 02:48:17 PM »
Not Jewish, but I learned all these words when I moved to NYC many years ago.  Such useful words!

Alan W

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Re: schlock
« Reply #9 on: September 21, 2016, 03:38:52 PM »
The Yiddish origin of schlock is a red herring (as opposed to a schmaltz herring), since the word is widely used nowadays by people who are neither Jewish nor speakers of Yiddish. This is why it can be found in most English dictionaries. The question to be decided is whether the word is widely enough known around the English-speaking world to be treated as common and, specifically, whether its use is mainly confined to North America.

As with schlep, that was discussed a few years ago, there is quite a bit of usage of the word in Britain, Australia, etc. The News on the Web (NOW) Corpus has 106 examples from Great Britain, from a range of periodicals: Guardian, Telegraph, Independent, Daily Mail and, yes, the Jewish Chronicle. In terms of frequency, Britain, at 0.25 instances per million words, was more than half the frequency of the US, at 0.43. Australia, Canada and Ireland used the word a bit less frequently than Britain. It's noteworthy that none of these quotes felt it was necessary to explain the meaning of the term.

The NOW Corpus only goes back to 2010, but the word schlock has been in some use in Britain well before that. The earliest quote from a British writer I found (via the OED) was from Len Deighton's Billion-Dollar Brain (1966):

Quote
The schlock-shops were afire with sale signs and smiling suckers.

In 1968 Kenneth Allsop wrote in Punch of:

Quote
...the accumulated realisation that the New World's promise, that of a fresh beginning on virgin soil, beyond contamination from the stinking bone-pile of Europe, was illusory. Utopia was a schlock joint, after all.

In 1972 Clive James wrote in the Times Literary Supplement:

Quote
As the critics had had no trouble proving - since anybody who could count without taking his hands out of his pockets agreed with them - Love Story had made all its money by a trick, the trick being to dress up a piece of half-witted schlock romance as a hip tragedy.

These days the word seems to be used more often than not, as in the Clive James quote, for products of the entertainment industry. Could it be classed as, to some extent, a piece of show biz jargon, unfamiliar to many of those who don't read film and TV reviews? Perhaps, but I'm not convinced.

Of course I have to take serious note of the fact that two forumites had never heard of the word before, but even so, I'm not persuaded schlock should be changed to rare, so I'm leaving it as it is for now.
Alan Walker
Creator of Lexigame websites

nineoaks

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Re: schlock
« Reply #10 on: September 22, 2016, 02:19:34 AM »
Dear Alan,

You are such a treasure! Thanks for all the research and thought you put into this game.

Gratefully,

9Oaks

Hobbit

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Re: schlock
« Reply #11 on: September 22, 2016, 04:25:26 AM »
I would like to second that Alan.  You are very much appreciated & give a lot of pleasure to us all :) Penny
If life gives you lemons, add a large gin & some tonic...

Les303

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Re: schlock
« Reply #12 on: September 22, 2016, 09:09:08 AM »
Hear, hear!

Hobbit

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Re: schlock
« Reply #13 on: September 23, 2016, 04:19:43 AM »
Oh Les I just can't help smiling every time I see your pic! :) Do hope you don't resemble Sir Les in real life - apart from perhaps a small drink in your hand :laugh:  Penny
If life gives you lemons, add a large gin & some tonic...

Les303

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Re: schlock
« Reply #14 on: September 24, 2016, 03:45:03 PM »
Hi Penny , while i am reluctant to shatter the illusion , i must admit that the only resemblance that i have to Sir Les , would be the drink in the right hand however mine would more likely be a schooner of xxxx.