Re: It's got long ears, so pepper it.

Posted by TheFallen on June 24, 2003

In Reply to: Re: Hasenpfeffer incorporated posted by ESC on June 22, 2003

: : : Laverne and Shirley used to open their comedy series with, "Shlemeil, Shemozzl ..." What does it mean?

: : I can help with the first two words of that bit:

: : From "The Joys of Yiddish" by Leo Rosten (Pocket Books, New York, 1996):

: : shlemiel, schlemiel, shlemiehl, shlemihl - carries a distinctive note of pity. In fact, a shlemiel is often the nebech's (sad sack, loser, nothing) twin brother. The classic definition goes: A shlemiel is always knocking things off a table; the nebech always picks them up.

: : shlimazl, shlimazel - chronically unlucky person; someone for whom nothing seems to go right or turn out well.

: : I imagine the rest is a children's song. Are they playing hopscotch when they sing it? I don't remember.

: From another site:

: "How about that old Laverne and Shirley theme song? You know..."Shlemiel, shlimazl, hasenpfeffer incorporated..." A Shlemiel is someone who is clumsey or a chronic screwup. A Shlimazl is someone who is chronically unlucky. So a Shlemiel spills the beer on the Shlimazl. (Incidently, hasepfeffer is peppered rabbit stew. Go figure.)" http://bakingmynoodle.blogspot.com/2002_12_08_archiveindex.html

To get totally obsessional here, I have to point out that the German word "der Hase" actually is a hare - "das Kaninchen" is the German for rabbit. However this doesn't at all mean that Hase(n)pfeffer isn't peppered rabbit stew.