[lit-ideas] Double Schm-
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 14:09:57 EST
In a message dated 2/7/2005 1:59:51 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
junger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
related question: you know how you say "building? schmilding!" or
: "glasses? schmasses!" What do you do if the word you are schm-ing already
: starts with a schm? eg. "schmaltz --- what??"
Herring?
----
I notice the OED has an entry for that, 'schm-', below, but no clue
regarding Stone's question.
I would suggest: geminate the m (as per the 1952 quote):
Cheers,
JL
---
From the OED
'schm-'.
An element, derived from the numerous Yiddish words that begin with this
sequence of sounds, fused with or replacing the initial letter(s) of a word, so
as to form a nonsense-word which is added to the original word in order to
convey disparagement, dismissal, or derision.
1929 I. GOLLER Five Bks. of Mr. Moses V. ii. 215
â??I know he made Davy go to the Palace to-day with the idea of hastening on
the crisis in his illness.â??.. â??Crisis-shmisis!â?? mocked Barnett
disparagingly.
1935 A. KOBER Thunder over Bronx 28 Now alluva sudden is fency-shmency
with forks. Ibid. 48 So who you rushing to see, Miss Hurry Shmurry?
1952 Jrnl. Eng. & Gmc. Philol. LI. 226
The morphological pattern of the jocular repetition of a word or word-ending
prefixed by the cluster m- seems to have become quite generalized... I have
heard..moon-schmoon, etc.
1953 I. ASIMOV Second Foundation xviii. 183
â??Time; schmime,â?? said Pappa irritably.
1963 T. PYNCHON V. xii. 354 â??It's murdering your own child, is what it
is.â??
â??Child, schmild. A complex protein molecule, is all.â??
1966 N.Y. Herald Tribune 20 Mar. (Sunday Mag.) 33/3 Trotsky-shmotsky,
Lesbian- or Trotsky-shmotany way you slice The Group on screen it's the same
old
baloney about The Girls.
1967 New Yorker 28 Oct. 105/2
Two early Christians chanced to meet in Heaven... â??Saul of Tarsus, yet!â??
cried one. â??What are you doing here?â?? â??Tarsus-Schmarsus,â?? replied the
other, â??
I'm Paul already.â??
1969 Listener 24 Apr. 569/1,
I was surprised to find René Cutforth retelling the old story of the
psychiatrist and the fond mother without specifying that she's a Jewish
mother. (â??I
have to tell you, madam, that your son is suffering from an Oedipus
complex.â??
â??Oedipus, Schmoedipus! What does it matter so long as he loves his mother?â??
)
1971 D. HEFFRON Nice Fire & Some Moonpennies xv. 140
Gods, schmods! You can have them.
1978 F. ROSS Sleeping Dogs 110
â??Listen, â??Liâ?? â??Listen schmisten! I tell you I won't be here.â??
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