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chutzpah

 
also hutz·pah (KHʊt'spə, hʊt'-) pronunciation
n.
Utter nerve; effrontery: "has the chutzpah to claim a lock on God and morality" (New York Times).

[Yiddish khutspe, from Mishnaic Hebrew ḥuṣpâ, from ḥāṣap, to be insolent.]


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Like all Yiddish words that have entered the English lexicon, chutzpah is difficult to translate yet wonderfully useful. In this case, Hillary and Bill Clinton were accused of having chutzpah (nerve, audacity) after they criticized President Bush for commuting Scooter Libby's prison sentence.

"'I don't know what Arkansan is for chutzpah but this is a gigantic case of it,' presidential spokesman Tony Snow said.... Bill Clinton is from the state of Arkansas. Chutzpah is the Yiddish word for brashness.... In the closing hours of his presidency, Clinton pardoned 140 people, including fugitive financier Marc Rich."

Link: Bush spokesman says Clintons have nerve for criticizing Bush on commuting former aide's prison term. - International Herald Tribune

Posted July 9, 2007.

Unmitigated gall, generally unacceptable brazen behavior.
In some types of business, it is regarded as an asset: a positive quality of heroic audacity or guts.

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hutzpah

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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: n. - (Yiddish) unbelievable gall.

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noun
/'xυtspə/ Also chutzpa, chutzbah /'xυtspə/
Also chutzpa, chutzbah
noun

Brazen impudence, shameless audacity, cheek. (1892 —) .
O. Hesky The sheer chutzpa—the impudence—of defecting...right in front of his own eyes (1967).

[Yiddish.]


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categories related to 'chutzpah'

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For a list of words related to chutzpah, see:

Chutzpah (play /ˈhʊtspə/) is the quality of audacity, for good or for bad. The Yiddish word derives from the Hebrew word ḥuṣpâ (חֻצְפָּה), meaning "insolence", "audacity". The modern English usage of the word has taken on a broader meaning, having been popularized through vernacular use in film, literature, and television. The word has also been able to be interpreted as meaning the amount of spunk or ability that an individual has. In more traditional usage, chutzpah is invariably negative.

Contents

Etymology

In Hebrew, chutzpah is used indignantly, to describe someone who has overstepped the boundaries of accepted behavior. In traditional usage, the word expresses a strong sense of disgust, condemnation and outrage.

Leo Rosten in The Joys of Yiddish defines chutzpah as "gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, incredible 'guts,' presumption plus arrogance such as no other word and no other language can do justice to." In this sense, chutzpah expresses both strong disapproval and condemnation. In the same work, Rosten also defined the term as "that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan."

Judge Alex Kozinski and Eugene Volokh in an article entitled Lawsuit Shmawsuit, note the rise in use of Yiddish words in legal opinion. They note that chutzpah has been used 231 times in American legal opinions, 220 of those after 1980.[1]

The cognate of chutzpah in Arabic, ḥaṣāfah (حصافة), does not mean "impudence" or "cheekiness" or anything similar, but rather "sound judgment."[2]

Popular culture

See also

References

  1. ^ Kozinski, Alex; Eugene Volokh (1993). "Lawsuit Shmawsuit". Yale Law Journal (The Yale Law Journal Company, Inc.) 103 (2): 463. doi:10.2307/797101. JSTOR 797101. http://www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/yiddish.htm. Retrieved 2007-06-24. 
  2. ^ Wehr, Hans (1994) [1979]. J. Milton Cowan. ed. Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. Urbana, Illinois: Spoken Language Services, Inc.. ISBN 0879500034. 
  3. ^ Wiener, Jon (2005-07-11). "Giving Chutzpah New Meaning". The Nation. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050711/wiener. Retrieved 2007-06-24. 

External links


Translations:

Chutzpah

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - frejdighed grænsende til frækhed

Nederlands (Dutch)
gotspe

Français (French)
n. - toupet, culot

Deutsch (German)
n. - (ugs.) Chuzpe, Frechheit

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ξεδιαντροπιά, αυθάδεια

Italiano (Italian)
faccia tosta, sfacciataggine, impudenza

Português (Portuguese)
n. - bravura (f) (gír.)

Русский (Russian)
наглость

Español (Spanish)
n. - caradura

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - fräckhet

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
厚脸皮, 放肆无礼

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 厚臉皮, 放肆無禮

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 뻔뻔스러움

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - あつかましさ

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) جرأة‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮חוצפה‬


 
 
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