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• ComfortableRaspberry@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  The “Schof” is not drived from the German “Schaf” but from Yiddish. The older generations used it to describe someone who’s a useless idiot. E.g. when. someone fucks up something easy and obvious

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  • FishFace@piefed.social ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    But Yiddish is itself a Germanic language, and modern German dialects like Bavarian do have “Schof” = “Schaf” = “sheep”. Is there a better etymology for Schof here? And Seckl < Säckle < Sack would be perfect for scrotum too, and in high German you can call someone “du Sack” to mean they’re an idiot also.

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    • ComfortableRaspberry@feddit.org ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I looked it up again:
      It’s derived from the Yiddish word “Schofel” which itself is already an insult and closer to the German word “Lump” and the English “rascal”(?).

      If you want a literal translation for Schofseckl I’d go for “sack full of useless rags”.

      And Seckl < Säckle < Sack would be perfect for scrotum too

      No, the meaning of “Sack” alone, without context is that of a soft, loosely shaped container. If “Sack” is used as a short version for “Hodensack” then yes, it can be used as an insult but that’s not the case here.
      “Seckl” is more similar to the Bavarian/Austrian “Sackl” or “Packl” it’s just a bag.

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      • AbsolutelyClawless@piefed.social ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Austrians say “Sackerl”. And they will always giggle if you say “Tüte” instead. From my experience 😂

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