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Shtick

Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2013 10:32 pm
by Dr. Goodword

• shtick •

Pronunciation: shtik • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. An entertainment routine, a gimmick or gag associated with someone in particular. 2. A sphere of interest or expertise, bailiwick.

Notes: Today's is another Yiddish word that seems to have stuck in English. It is still spelled variously: schtick and schtik are both reported by the Oxford English Dictionary. Our spelling above seems to be the dominant current orthography. This word is a lexical orphan with no derivational relatives.

In Play: The American comedian Jack Benny's schticks included his stinginess and lying about his age (always 39). Chico Marx's shtick was his fake Italian accent while his brother Harpo's was not speaking at all but rather honking a horn to get attention. Bud Abbot and Lou Costello did a famous baseball shtick (routine) called 'Who's on First?' The meaning of shtick has now expanded to No. 2 above: "I would love to help with your car, Lenny, but motors just aren't my shtick."

Word History: As already mentioned, today's Good Word is another contribution to English by the Yiddish language. Yiddish picked the word up from German Stück "piece" from Old High German stukki "crust, fragment". Where OHG stukki came from is something of a mystery on which we prefer not to speculate. It is not related to English stick despite the similarities between this word and Stück; coincidences do occur in language development. (For sure one of Mark Bailey's shticks is coming up with very Good Words like this one that he suggested for today.)

Re: Shtick

Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 3:28 am
by MTC
"Today's is another Yiddish word that seems to have stuck in English." That's "shtuck," Dr. G., "shtuck." "Shtick seems to have shtuck." Oy, these Christians!

Note: Better I should stay away from Jewish humor, perhaps...

Re: Shtick

Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 12:41 pm
by LukeJavan8
Why, I enjoyed it.


We had a really bad storm here last Monday, and it knocked
over a 150 foot tall cottonwood tree, which was dying for
years. Needless to say power went out, and I just
got my internet back a few hours ago. Good to be
back.

Re: Shtick

Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 3:49 pm
by MTC
Being "shtuck" is not your shtick, Luke. Glad you're back. I wondered...

Re: Shtick

Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 1:10 pm
by misterdoe
"I'm never never gonna quit," Barry White sang, "'cause quittin' just ain't my shtick." :)

Re: Shtick

Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 5:32 pm
by LukeJavan8
Being "shtuck" is not your shtick, Luke. Glad you're back. I wondered...


Shows how out of practice I got: I made a reply
MTC and forgot to 'submit' it.
No being 'shtuck' is not my 'shtick', but I use
another word starting witih 'sh" a lot last week.