What is a Potzer?

[Mason E. Embry]

I know that I am probably the only chess player that doesn't know
what a Potzer is but I would like for someone to clear up this mystery
for me. Thanks

[William B. Wright]

In article <3224D3...@westky.com>, "Mason E. Embry" <Ma...@westky.com>
wrote:

I usually see it spelled pahtzer and it is chess slang for a bad player.

--

[Eric Taylor]

Mason E. Embry (Ma...@westky.com) wrote:
: I know that I am probably the only chess player that doesn't know
: what a Potzer is but I would like for someone to clear up this mystery

I think this little saying should prove what a pahtzer is like:

Pahtzer see pawn. Pahtzer take pawn!

Q.E.D.

--- edt

[Ken Carroll]

Jeffrey Cobb wrote:

>
> "Mason E. Embry" <Ma...@westky.com> wrote:
> >I know that I am probably the only chess player that doesn't know
> >what a Potzer is but I would like for someone to clear up this mystery

> >for me. Thanks
>
> The correct spelling is Patzer, and if you have to ask then you probably
> are one.
>
> Your Welcome

Actually, it's "You're" not Your,so I guess that makes you a Patzer too.

[Jeffrey Cobb]

[Jeffrey Cobb]

tob...@lerc.nasa.gov (William B. Wright) wrote:
>In article <3224D3...@westky.com>, "Mason E. Embry" <Ma...@westky.com>

>wrote:
>
>> I know that I am probably the only chess player that doesn't know
>> what a Potzer is but I would like for someone to clear up this mystery
>> for
>me.
>Thanks
>

>I usually see it spelled pahtzer and it is chess slang for a bad player.
>
>--

The correct spelling is patzer, I don't know where you may have seen
pahtzer, and you probably are one too

Your Welcome

[David Ottosen]

e...@ren.us.itd.umich.edu (Eric Taylor) wrote:

>Mason E. Embry (Ma...@westky.com) wrote:
>: I know that I am probably the only chess player that doesn't know
>: what a Potzer is but I would like for someone to clear up this mystery
>

>I think this little saying should prove what a pahtzer is like:
>
>Pahtzer see pawn. Pahtzer take pawn!
>
>Q.E.D.
>
>--- edt

Sorry man, you are a patzer now too. The correct saying, from the great RJF, is
"Patzer sees check, patzer gives check!"

David

[Jeffrey Cobb]

Ken Carroll <kcar...@sirius.com> wrote:
>Jeffrey Cobb wrote:
>>

>> "Mason E. Embry" <Ma...@westky.com> wrote:
>> >I know that I am probably the only chess player that doesn't know
>> >what a Potzer is but I would like for someone to clear up this mystery

>> >for me. Thanks
>>
>> The correct spelling is Patzer, and if you have to ask then you probably
>> are one.
>>
>> Your Welcome
>

>Actually, it's "You're" not Your,so I guess that makes you a Patzer too.

Mea Culpa

[J E H Shaw]

I think the misspelling "potzer" may have originated with the great RJF
[possibly in the interview where he said that Jews lower the
tone of the game, that the Kennedys had no class, that when he was
World Champion he would play an unprecedented amount of chess
and charge unprecedented fees etc.], referring to Botvinnik, Smyslov,
Tal etc. So you don't need to be a patzer to misspell it.
--
J.E.H.Shaw, Department of Statistics, | JANET: st...@uk.ac.warwick
University of Warwick, | BITNET: strgh%uk.ac.warwick@UKACRL
Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K. | PHONE: +44 203 523069
"There is no such thing as society". Well, not now there bloody isn't.

[Tim Mirabile]

st...@csv.warwick.ac.uk (J E H Shaw) wrote:

>I think the misspelling "potzer" may have originated with the great RJF
>[possibly in the interview where he said that Jews lower the
>tone of the game, that the Kennedys had no class, that when he was
>World Champion he would play an unprecedented amount of chess
>and charge unprecedented fees etc.], referring to Botvinnik, Smyslov,
>Tal etc. So you don't need to be a patzer to misspell it.

I thought it originated with the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer",
because they exaggerate the 'a' (as in father) sound so much it sounds
like an 'o'. Anyone who saw the movie without seeing the word in print
would be likely to spell it "potzer".

+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Tim Mirabile <t...@mail.htp.com> http://www.angelfire.com/pg9/timm/ |
| TimM on FICS - telnet://fics.onenet.net:5000/ PGP Key ID: B7CE30D1 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+

[Ken Carroll]

Tim Mirabile wrote:

> I thought it originated with the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer",
> because they exaggerate the 'a' (as in father) sound so much it sounds
> like an 'o'. Anyone who saw the movie without seeing the word in print
> would be likely to spell it "potzer".
>
> +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
> | Tim Mirabile <t...@mail.htp.com> http://www.angelfire.com/pg9/timm/ |
> | TimM on FICS - telnet://fics.onenet.net:5000/ PGP Key ID: B7CE30D1 |
> +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

Let's cease the debate and stick to DUFFER.

[William J. Hayes]

Mason E. Embry (Ma...@westky.com) wrote:
: I know that I am probably the only chess player that doesn't know
: what a Potzer is but I would like for someone to clear up this mystery

From the Yiddish or Low German (platts Deutsch).

A blunderer, one who blunders. From the verb to blunder.

[Allan P. Fogelson]

As far as I have always known, a "potzer" is an American pronunciation of a
term derived from Yiddish of "patzer".

When I used to hang out at the flea house in New York City in the
mid-1960s, there were many Yiddish terms in use, of which this was one.

One of the most common was "brek a fis ya but vial mot."

This meant, in rough translation, "Break your foot, you motherfucker."

If I have time to think about it, I am sure I can think of several other
Yiddish terms then in common use among chess players.

I do not know whether these terms originated at the Flea House in New York
City. I only know that is where I first learned them.

I know nothing about Yiddish, by the way.

Sam Sloan

[Ronny Straetling]

Jeffrey Cobb wrote:
>
> tob...@lerc.nasa.gov (William B. Wright) wrote:
> >In article <3224D3...@westky.com>, "Mason E. Embry" <Ma...@westky.com>

> >wrote:
> >
> >> I know that I am probably the only chess player that doesn't know
> >> what a Potzer is but I would like for someone to clear up this mystery

> >> for
> >me.
> >Thanks
> >
> >I usually see it spelled pahtzer and it is chess slang for a bad player.
> >
> >--
> The correct spelling is patzer, I don't know where you may have seen
> pahtzer, and you probably are one too

Yes patzer is a german word. A patzer is a big mistake or a player who
make a lot of big mistakes. I´m a Patzer!

Ciao
Ronny

[RONN MINDEMAN]

On Wednesday, August 28, 1996 at 2:00:00 AM UTC-5, Mason E. Embry wrote:
> I know that I am probably the only chess player that doesn't know
> what a Potzer is but I would like for someone to clear up this mystery
> for me. Thanks

Are you referring to the term that the character Bruce Pandolfini refers to the men playing chess in Washington Square..... in Searching for Bobby Fischer Movie?

[Ken Blake]

You are replying to a question asked 24 years ago! What are the chances
that Mason E. Embry is still alive, or if he is that he's still here to
see your reply?


--
Ken

[f6k]

my guess is that both of them are time travellers. they use NNTP to
share valuable informations (ciphered, thought), as it's the best and
most reliable protocol in the time range they observe. for more
information, please see La Jetée (1962) and/or 12 Monkeys (1995).

-f6k

--
~{,_,"> indignus LabRat - ftp://shl.huld.re

[Eli Kesef]

On Friday, September 6, 1996 at 10:00:00 AM UTC+3, Ronny Straetling wrote:

> Yes patzer is a german word. A patzer is a big mistake or a player who
> make a lot of big mistakes. I´m a Patzer!

Bs"d

I'm not a patzer. I'm a Grandpatzer.

https://tinyurl.com/trappish