schlock

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M. Henri Day
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schlock

Postby M. Henri Day » Sun Apr 24, 2005 10:41 am

The word described below is also one of Dr Goodword's elucidations of cultural exchange, and definitely not schlock (as fellow Agorists will immediately recognise, we see here an example of Russell's paradox)....

Henri
• schlock •

Pronunciation:
shlahk • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: Anything that is cheap, shoddy, junky, inferior, of poor quality.

Notes: Like many Yiddish words entering English, this one strikes speakers as a little funny, which explains the word schlockmeister (schlockmaster) "someone who specializes in cheap, shoddy products." The adjective, "schlocky" is normal and only encourages the use of an adverb, "schlockily," in sentences like, "Jolted suspensefully by Claire's survival antics, the film [Tracks of a Killer] is aesthetically sloppy but schlockily diverting." —TVguide.com).

In Play: Put today's word in play by substituting it for "junk" when referring to shoddy work: "She calls it a French antique shop but it looks more like culture schlock." The advantage of today's word, of course, is that it sounds funny outside New York and New Jersey and is always a useful tool in prying smiles out of folks: "Shock radio was started by someone who accidentally mispronounced schlock radio" (just kidding).

Word History: Today's word is a youngster, first appearing in New York newspapers in 1915. It seems to be another contribution to English from Yiddish, this time, from shlak "stroke, apoplexy, major nuisance." It comes from German Schlag "stroke, blow, hit" from the verb schlagen "to hit or strike." This word comes from Middle High German slahen "to strike, hit" from Old High German slahan "hit, strike, kill." The same Old Germanic root came to English as "slay," and is akin to Icelandic "slá," Norwegian and Danish "slaa," and Swedish "slå."

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Last edited by M. Henri Day on Wed Jun 08, 2005 2:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
曾记否,到中流击水,浪遏飞舟?

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gailr
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Postby gailr » Sun Apr 24, 2005 1:02 pm

I see this as more of a verb, "This layout needs help; it looks schlocked together."
gailr


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