Shlimiel or Shlimazel?
A shlimiel is the guy who always spills the soup; a shlimazel is the guy the soup spills on.
Which is worse - to be the shlemiel or the shlimazel?
Discuss.
Which is worse - to be the shlemiel or the shlimazel?
Discuss.
posted by Joolya at
2:16 PM
8 Comments:
Depends on the soup.
Thanks for the definition. The Lavern and Shirley theme song now has so much more meaning for me.
(I can't believe that of all the great things on your blog I finally comment because of this post. Oh well. A comment is a comment.)
Well, on the one hand, by spilling his soup the shlemiel risks going hungry. Worse yet, he might be slapped with a lawsuit.
On the other hand, the shlimazel is subject to potential burns in some very unpleasant places. However, he can probaly get free dry cleaning courtesy of the shlemiel.
All things considered, I'd rather be the shlemiel.
More importantly, how did you ever figure out how to spell these words?!
I've thought about this for a bit, as J & I had a brief discussion about it. I'd prefer to be the shlimazel, and the reason took me a bit to figure out. It has to do with the locus of judgement. If you're the shlemiel, after spilling the soup, you can walk away from the encounter, and no subsequent person will know you're a f__k-up. But you will always know, and if it's chronic, you'll always know you're a chronic f__k-up. (I can think of a couple of shlemiel moments of my own which can still make me cringe 30 years later!). If you're the shlimazel, in addition to some minor burns, you'll spend some amount of time walking around covered in soup stains. Subsequent folks, who've not seen the event, will judge you to be a messy, unkempt person. For me, those judgements are of no consequence. The external judgement is far less meaningful and/or uncomfortable than my internal one.
Okay, I might be biased, but I think Joolya's Mom wins.
Joolya's Mom does make an excellent point. But, as a shlemiel, you have the option to accept responsibility for and to rectify your f__k-up.
Therefore, being a shlemiel gives you the opportunity for personal growth.
Oooh, sorry Mom, Ennui makes a very interesting point!
Perhaps, but a true shlemiel would NEVER accept responsibility and/or rectify the spilled soup situation. That's the whole thing about being a shlemiel. Shlemiels are putzes.
Oh no no . . . Joolya never said the shlemiel is a putz.
I envision the shlemiel as a lovable yet clumsy soul. I picture a really nice, maybe quite intelligent, individual who simply doesn't notice what going on around them. Which is why they trip on their untied shoelace and spill the soup on the shlimazel.
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