1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey 2 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:11,719 Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren vogebam here. The Yiddish language has gifted 3 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:16,360 Speaker 1: English speakers with some irresistibly punchy words that defy direct 4 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:23,799 Speaker 1: translation but are instantly understandable. Schmuck, schmooz, stick, chatsky up, kiss, kluts. 5 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:27,640 Speaker 1: The list goes on. Kutzpah is a word that should 6 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:31,440 Speaker 1: be in everyone's arsenal if you're not familiar with kotzbah. 7 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:36,479 Speaker 1: It's often defined in the dictionary as nerve, gall insolence, arrogance, 8 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 1: and supreme self confidence. But there's a subtle flavored to 9 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: kotzbah that alludes easy translation into English. The late Leo Raston, 10 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:50,360 Speaker 1: author of The Joys of Yiddish, wrote that kutzbah means 11 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:54,200 Speaker 1: presumption plus arrogance, such as no other word and no 12 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:58,400 Speaker 1: other language can do justice to Kutzpah. Is that quality 13 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, 14 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:04,400 Speaker 1: throws himself on the mercy of the court because he 15 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: is an orphan. You might not recognize the word in 16 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:12,120 Speaker 1: print from having heard it. It's spelled c h u 17 00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:17,200 Speaker 1: t z p a h in Yiddish. The h sound 18 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,360 Speaker 1: is produced in the back of the throat. In phonics, 19 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:26,040 Speaker 1: it's called an unvoiced dorsal velor non syllabant fricative. If 20 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: you have difficulty making an authentic sound in the back 21 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: of your throat and sorry, that's the sound I usually 22 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:35,200 Speaker 1: try not to make. Into microphones, you can substitute a 23 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 1: regular h sound like hutzpah and people will get what 24 00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:43,959 Speaker 1: you mean. Yiddish is derived mostly from German and Hebrew, 25 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:47,360 Speaker 1: and kutzba can trace its roots back to ancient Hebrew 26 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 1: and Aramaic words meaning insolent and impudent, which are definitely 27 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: negative descriptors, and it's likely that kutzba was mostly seen 28 00:01:56,520 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: as a negative quality among Yiddish speakers in Europe, where 29 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 1: it was once the everyday language of ten million Ashkenazi 30 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: Jewish people. Yiddish is now an endangered language spoken by 31 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:11,360 Speaker 1: roughly a hundred and fifty Americans, mostly in Orthodox Jewish communities. 32 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 1: But something happened when Yiddish came to America and mixed 33 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:19,639 Speaker 1: with the English usage of nerve. If someone has a 34 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:22,840 Speaker 1: lot of nerve, it's usually a bad thing. But sometimes 35 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 1: it takes a lot of nerve to speak your mind 36 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:27,520 Speaker 1: or stand up to a bully, which is a good thing. 37 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:31,440 Speaker 1: The word kotzba pulls off a nifty trick because, on 38 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 1: the one hand, it recognizes that someone's behavior is nervy, brazen, 39 00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:39,280 Speaker 1: or arrogant, but it also tips its cap and respect. 40 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,320 Speaker 1: Someone with kotzbah isn't ashamed of bending or breaking the 41 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:45,920 Speaker 1: rules if it gets them what they want. You might 42 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:49,240 Speaker 1: not approve of their behavior, but you respect the koksbah 43 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:54,359 Speaker 1: it took to pull it off. In its definition of kotzbah, 44 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:57,919 Speaker 1: Miriam Webster cites a news article about the son of 45 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:01,679 Speaker 1: a Nike executive who sells were sneakers, some of which 46 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: may have been stolen from Nike. Journalist Jeff Manning wrote 47 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:10,120 Speaker 1: in The Oregonian his company West Coast Streetwear has figured 48 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: out how to use technology and kutzbagh to buy hot 49 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: sneakers in bulk before the rest of the market. It 50 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:20,480 Speaker 1: takes kutzbug to sell stolen footwear from your mom's company. 51 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:30,079 Speaker 1: It's illegal, but also kind of cool. Today's episode is 52 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:33,760 Speaker 1: based on the article some nerve kutzpah explained on how 53 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com, written by Dave Rouse. Brain Stuff 54 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:39,320 Speaker 1: is production of i Heeart Radio in partnership with how 55 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 1: stuff works dot Com and is produced by Tyler Clang. 56 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:45,320 Speaker 1: For more podcasts My Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 57 00:03:45,400 --> 00:04:01,040 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Up, kutzpah, kutzpah. Yep, yeah, 58 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:04,240 Speaker 1: this is great. This is a really good audio episode.