schlemiel
/ʃləˈmiːl
/noun North American informal
A stupid, awkward, or unlucky person: he seems like the classic underdog schlemiel you schlemiel, it’s right outside!...
- When it comes to chopping veggies, a schlemiel would spend days building a massive contraption to do it for him.
- An ethnically Jewish version of the fool, the schlemiel is caught up in situations that reflect the historical problems of the Jewish people.
- But unlike Woody or Tommy - schlemiels with whom we can identify- Vladimir's ‘problems’ are too hysterical, too willfully and ridiculously constructed, for us to empathize.
Origin
Late 19th century: from Yiddish shlemiel.