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Feb 10, 2004

This week's theme
Words borrowed from Yiddish

This week's words
schlock
nudnik
kvell
schmaltz
tsuris

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nudnik

noun: A boring pest.

[From Yiddish nudyen (to bore), from Polish nudzic + -nik (suffix denoting a person associated with a particular quality, group, etc.]

"John Kerry's freefall is so pronounced that even Dana Milbank, the Washington Post nudnik who specializes in needling President Bush on the most picayune details, has tossed Kerry overboard."
Russ Smith; Kerry's Last Stand; New York Press; Dec 9, 2003.

"Alfred E. Neuman, the magazine's red-haired, freckle-faced, dentally challenged mascot, is famous for saying, 'What, me worry?' Alfred, the nudnik who has campaigned for U.S. president since 1956, should be worried."
Tom Hawthorn; 'What, me advertise?': Mad Magazine Has a Legacy of Tweaking the Establishment; Vancouver Sun (Canada); Apr 17, 2001.

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