meaning of schtick
Silke Thomas
what does schtick mean?
--
Bill Shatzer
In a previous article, s.th...@student.uni-tuebingen.de (Silke Thomas) says:
>what does schtick mean?
Originally it referred to a vaudeville performer's particular act
or gag. Thus Jack Benny's schtick was the running "cheapskate"
joke and Henny Youngman's was the violin. (Actually, come to think of
it, the violin was one of Benny's schticks as well.)
By expansion, it now generally refers to any person's special interest,
activity or claimed expertise.
Cheers,
--
- Bill Shatzer bsha...@orednet.org -
"Oh, what sad times are these when passing ruffians can say 'ni' at will to
old ladies."
Robert Lipton
Silke Thomas (s.th...@student.uni-tuebingen.de) wrote:
: what does schtick mean?
: --
I have seen this derived from Vaudeville/Burlesque in which comedy jokes
were punctuated by hitting the Second Bannanna with a stick -- an
outgrowth of the jester's bladder. This Yiddishism -- or perhaps it is
simply a stage-German pronunciation of "stick" has come to refer to the
entire routine -- metonomy, if you like -- or any routine freequently
performed.
Bob
Copy Desk
Originally, it referred to a vaudevillian's act, what he did, his schtick.
Likely coming out of the Catskills Jewish theater circuit, it then moved to
Hollywood and television and then into general(?) usage.
t.i.a.
djs
--
_______________________________________
And don´t look at me in that tone of voice!
http://www.xs4all.nl/~dsuchard
Silke Thomas <s.th...@student.uni-tuebingen.de> wrote in article
<32E4BE...@student.uni-tuebingen.de>...
Ralph M Jones
Silke Thomas wrote:
>
> what does schtick mean?
> --
Marko
> what does schtick mean?
> --
My Yiddish is not strong, but I thought schtick meant the slapstick
comedian's stick, used to beat people for cheap laughs in a less refined
age (heavy irony).
--
Marko
- - - - - - - - - - - -
"Peu de gens sont assez sages pour preferer le blame qui leur est utile
a la louange qui les trahit." - - La Rochefoucauld
Vic Lewis
In article <32E4BE...@student.uni-tuebingen.de>,
I believe "His schtick.." refers to someone's vocation, as in "acting
was his schtick"; hoever, I've only heard it used informally. Loosely,
one could say that a schtick describes something that someone does or
is involved with - it may too impart a sense of identity. To use my
example above, I may also be implying that acting may be more to this
person than just a job; it may fulfill some facet of his identity.
I think I'm digging myself into a hole here...Help! Anyone?
Vic Lewis
Richard M. Alderson III
Yiddish "shtick" has roughly the same range of meanings as German "Stueck," to
which it is etymologically related. No sticks need apply.
--
Rich Alderson You know the sort of thing that you can find in any dictionary
of a strange language, and which so excites the amateur philo-
logists, itching to derive one tongue from another that they
know better: a word that is nearly the same in form and meaning
as the corresponding word in English, or Latin, or Hebrew, or
what not.
--J. R. R. Tolkien,
alde...@netcom.com _The Notion Club Papers_
Avi Jacobson
Yiddisk "shtick" (also transliterated "schtick"; I've dealt with the
various transliterations of Yiddish in another thread) is cognate to
German Stueck, and, like it, means "piece". In Yiddish it also means
the same as "thing" in the American "doing your thing". It also can
refer to pretentious behavior, as in "Is that British accent real, or is
it just his shtick?"
There is a decent joke about a non-Jewish housemaid (sorry, I really
don't know the current PC word) -- in the version I heard, she was black
-- who complained that her Jewish boss lady had been calling her
Shipwreck. In fact, what the boss lady had been saying was "shtick
dreck" -- "piece of shit".
Oh, well, in Yiddish it works.
--
Avi Jacobson, email: avi_...@netvision.net.il | When an idea is
Home Page (Israel): | wanting, a word
http://www.netvision.net.il/php/avi_jaco | can always be found
Mirror Home Page (U.S.): | to take its place.
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/4034 | -- Goethe
John Davies
>what does schtick mean?
>--
A familiar routine, line of chat etc adopted by, and associated with, a
particular comedian etc.
It derives from Yiddish, which as you probably know was originally a
dialect of Middle High German. If you're in Tübingen you won't need
reminding that in modern German "Stück" means piece. (As in "the piece
of cod that passeth all understanding.")
--
John Davies (jo...@redwoods.demon.co.uk)
Roots
From alt.usage.english
Silke Thomas <s.th...@student.uni-tuebingen.de> wrote in article
<32E4BE...@student.uni-tuebingen.de>...
Mark Odegard
[Posted, e-mailed] On Fri, 24 Jan 1997 22:09:31 +0000, John
Davies <jo...@redwoods.demon.co.uk> in
<FFIllGAb...@redwoods.demon.co.uk> wrote
>If you're in Tübingen you won't need
>reminding that in modern German "Stück" means piece. (As in "the piece
>of cod that passeth all understanding.")
No need to get to Tübingen. Your local concert hall will do, as
in 'concert piece'.
--
Mark Odegard ode...@ptel.net
[e-mailed copies of responses to my postings are welcomed]
The great orthographical contest has long subsisted between
etymology and pronunciation. It has been demanded, on one hand,
that men should write as they speak; but, as it has been shown
that this conformity never was attained in any language, and
that it is not more easy to persuade men to agree exactly in
speaking than in writing, it may be asked, with equal propriety,
why men do not rather speak as they write.
-- Samuel Johnson, "The Plan of an English Dictionary" (1747).
ejb...@kelly.teleport.com
From Webster's 10th Collegiate:
Var. of Shtick (also shtik) [Yiddish _pranks_, lit., piece, from MHG
_Stucke_, fr, OHG _stucki_; akin to OE _stycce_ piece, etc.
1: a show-business routine, gimmick, or gag: bit 2: something of little
value <not worth shticks; shticks, it was nothing>.
Probably similar in Chambers, Websters NI, and OED, but ya never know.
=Eric