schlub

English

Alternative forms

• schlob, shlub, shlubb

Etymology

From Yiddish זשלאָב (zhlob, “goyish bumpkin, redneck”), derived from Polish żłób (“manger, trough; furrow, large groove in the soil”). Compare Russian жлоб (žlob).

Originated in Eastern Europe as part of klezmer musician cant (Klezmer-loshn). In its original sense, the word only applied to non-Jewish males. Strom (2002) lists "zhlobukhe-elzet" as a synonym, "zhlobevke" and "zlobike" (זלאָביקע) as female counterparts. The precise nature of the semantic leap from "manger, crib" to "boorish goy" remains unclear. In any case, by the year 1869, it had become common enough to be included in a Russian-Yiddish dictionary published in Zhytomyr. Jewish immigrants brought the word to the United States, where it is best known under the form schlub.

False cognate of English slob.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃlʌb/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

schlub (plural schlubs) (derogatory, chiefly New York City or Jewish, informal or slang)

1. A person who is clumsy, oafish, socially awkward, unattractive or unkempt.
   • 2000, Frank Stiffel, The Oxymoron Factor – Franek: Stranger in My Land‎^[1], Viking, →ISBN:

     It wasn’t sufficient for Mother to use the rolling pin on that hapless brother of mine; she’d also call him Zlob, or Cham, another Polish term for an awkward peasant, something that a son of a nice Jewish family should never be.

   • 2020 June 3, William Meny, “Witches” (5:14 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows‎^[2], season 2, episode 9, spoken by Nadja (Natasia Demetriou):

     “Do you want me to go in for a quick snoop and poop?” “No. You cannot go. They will sense you. No, we need a mortal. A human. A common schlub. A nobody. Someone whose personality is like a eunuch. Do you know?” “Okay, I'm gonna go. I'll go. All right? I'll go.”

   • 2022, W. David Marx, chapter 4, in Status and Culture, Viking, →ISBN:

     After the success of the film Jaws in 1975, two schlubs went around the United States pretending to be director Steven Spielberg and lead actor Richard Dreyfuss.

Usage notes

• Most common in Metro New York. Outside that region, usage is more restricted to Ashkenazi Jews.

Derived terms

• schlubby

Translations

person who is clumsy, oafish, socially awkward, or unattractive or unkempt

• Esperanto: krudulo, maldelikatulo, bruto (eo), ŝtipkapulo
• Finnish: tomppeli (fi), tollo (fi)
• French: plouc (fr) m
• Polish: niechluj (pl) m
• Russian: жлоб (ru) m (žlob) (slang), лох (ru) m (lox) (slang)
• Yiddish: זשלאָב m (zhlob)

See also

• schlemiel
• schlimazel
• schmo

References

• Robert A. Rothstein, "Klezmer-loshn", in American Klezmer: Its Roots and Offshoots edited by Mark Slobin, University of California press, 2002.
• Avrom-Yitskhok Trivaks, “Klezmer-Loshn: Di Yidishe Zhargonen,” in Bay Undz Yidn, edited by M. Vanvild, Pinkes Gaubard, Warsaw, 1923, as cited in
• Yale Strom, The Book of Klezmer: The History, the Music, the Folklore. A Cappella, 2002.
• Жлоб // Из истории русских слов. — М. : Школа-Пресс, 1993. — →ISBN.
• The Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989