- Chutzpah
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For other uses, see Chutzpah (disambiguation).
Chutzpah (
/ˈhʊtspə/) is the quality of audacity, for good or for bad, but it is generally used negatively. 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]
References in popular culture
- Alan Dershowitz entitled his bestselling book of essays Chutzpah.
- Norman Finkelstein titled his book responding to Dershowitz's claims on Israel Beyond Chutzpah.[3]
- Actor Phil Silvers was known as "The King of Chutzpah".
- In July 2011, U.S. presidential candidate Michele Bachmann received much media attention when she incorrectly pronounced the word using a traditional "ch" sound during an interview on Fox News.
- Paul Krugman in the New York Times article Credibility, Chutzpah And Debt
- In The O.C. Season 4, episode 9, Summer Roberts tried to correct Julie Cooper's mispronunciation of 'Chutzpah.'
- Barbra Streisand has been said to have much 'Chutzpah'
See also
References
- ^ 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.
- ^ Wehr, Hans (1994) [1979]. J. Milton Cowan. ed. Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. Urbana, Illinois: Spoken Language Services, Inc.. ISBN 0879500034.
- ^ Wiener, Jon (2005-07-11). "Giving Chutzpah New Meaning". The Nation. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050711/wiener. Retrieved 2007-06-24.
External links
Categories:- Hebrew words and phrases
- Yiddish words and phrases
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