schmo

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Pronunciations

schmo (SHMOW) listen

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Definitions

  • n. A fool; a jerk.

Example Sentences

  • He is such a schmoe that he believes everything he reads on the internet.

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Languages of Origin

  • Yiddish
  • English

Etymology

  • May derive from שמאָק shmok 'schmuck'

      • Who Uses This

      • Jews: Jews of diverse religious backgrounds and organizational involvements
      • Non-Jews: (words that have spread outside of Jewish networks)

      Regions

      • Great Britain
      • South Africa
      • Australia / New Zealand

      Dictionaries

      • The New Joys of Yiddish, by Leo Rosten and Lawrence Bush (New York, 2003[1968]).
      • Yiddish and English: A Century of Yiddish in America, by Sol Steinmetz (Tuscaloosa, 1986).
      • The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).

      Alternative Spellings

      schmoe, shmo, shmoe

Notes

  • Joe Schmoe is an 'average person; a nobody'

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