plonter

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Definitions

  • v. To complicate, tangle, muddle.

  • n. A complication, tangle, jumble.

Example Sentences

  • "The local media all use the same word for the situation a ‘plonter’ which is Yiddish for a problematic conundrum." (source)

  • "Prime Minister Winston Churchill pronounced it ‘not solvable.’ Margaret Thatcher, the chemist-turned-prime minister, used a laboratory term, calling it ‘insoluble.’ If they had spoken Yiddish, they would have called it a ‘plonter.’ Were they referring to the Middle East? No, they were describing the decades–old struggle between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland." (source)

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Languages of Origin

  • Yiddish
  • Modern Hebrew

Etymology

  • Y פּלאָנטערן plontern, פּלאָנטער plonter > MH פְּלוֹנְטֶר plónter

      • Who Uses This

      • Israel: Diaspora Jews who feel connected to Israel and have spent time there
      • Older: Jews who are middle-aged and older
      • Ashkenazim: Jews with Ashkenazi heritage

      Regions

      • North America

      Dictionaries

      • Yiddish and English: A Century of Yiddish in America, by Sol Steinmetz (Tuscaloosa, 1986).

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