Talk:shemozzle

Yiddish

The late, great Leo Rosten, author of The Joys of Yiddish, begged to differ with the idea that the Briticism "shemozzle" meaning "a noisy affair," "a big todo," or what nowadays is often called a "kerfuffle," had anything to do with the Yiddish word "shlimazl". The meanings of "shemozzle" and "shlimazl" aren't very close and it's difficult to see why a big todo or fuss would have anything to do with a word that designates a man who is a perpetually inept, bungling person who never has any luck other than bad luck.12.146.203.101 23:57, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

The ways of etymologies are not always transparent. Especially when you only see the dominant current senses and do not have access to the changes of meaning through time. I've also read that linguists don't hold The Joys of Yiddish with high regard on such matters because it deals in the authors personal impressions rather than serious lexicographic and etymological research.

Etymonline doesn't state the British meaning as quite the same instead saying that shlim mazel means "rotten luck" and British slang shemozzle "an unhappy plight" (1889) is probably from the same source. — hippietrail (talk) 08:06, 29 August 2013 (UTC)

context label

"dated, East London slang" is far too limiting a context label; for example, the word is apparently current in Irish English; see Wiktionary:Tea room/2018/April#shemozzle. - -sche (discuss) 18:09, 26 April 2018 (UTC)

A quarrel or rumpus?

Apart from the very specific case of the GAA, is there really a strong case to be made that shemozzle means a quarrel or rumpus?

Q. raised in Tea Room BenAveling (talk) 16:30, 15 June 2023 (UTC)