schlimazel

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schlimazel

slang An unfortunate or unlucky person; someone for whom nothing goes right. From Yiddish. My poor uncle was a bit of a schlimazel his whole life. Nothing ever seemed to go right for him. I'm such a schlimazel! I finally saved up enough money to buy a new suit, and it gets caught on the door frame and rips the very first time I wear it.

schlemozzle

verb

See schlemazel

See also:

References in periodicals archive ?

"Luckless in New York: The Schlemiel and the Schlimazel in Seinfeld." Journal of Popular Film and Television 22 (1994): 120-24.

Jewish "diasporic humor" and contemporary Jewish-American identity

Unfortunately, Larry often as not missteps, creating chaos both for himself as well as for other characters who, as schlimazels, are the victims of Larry and his actions.

Larry David's "Dark Talmud"; or Kafka in prime time

Vice President Al Gore has to be the schlimazel of American politics.

Schlemiel, Schlimazel

One learned, for example, how to distinguish between the schlemiel and his ever-present cousin the schlimazel, and the lengths that a schnorrer ("shameless beggar") would go to wangle a meal.

Yiddish: A Nation of Words. (Books: life in Yiddishland)

Like other typical Schlimazel antiheroes, Tommy wavers in his decisions, and then seems magnetically drawn to the most self-defeating response.

Reflections on self-reflexiveness in literature

In other words, it is one more glaring proof that I am not Mahatma Gandhi or even Che Guevara, just another soft-bellied schlimazel trying to keep the lawn mowed and the psychopaths off the lawn.

Notebook: loaded

"Schlemiel, schlimazel, hasenpfeffer incorporated!" Unwind from a day of learning and join your colleagues in the heart of Milwaukee.