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Shmohawk or schmohawk is a slang term that might have derived from schmo, a slang term meaning fool.[1] The HBO television show Curb Your Enthusiasm gave the word recent notoriety.[citation needed] Earlier uses of the word can be found in the Crusader Rabbit animated cartoon "Crusader and the Schmohawk Indians", released in 1950[2] and in Saul Bellow's 1958 novel Henderson the Rain King.
Shmohawk or schmohawk is the word "Mohawk" with the reduplicative prefix shm- that conveys a mocking or dismissive meaning. It is borrowed from the Yiddish language, in which the prefix has been used to similar effect.[3]
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, second edition. Oxford University Press. 1989.
- ^ Crusader and the Schmohawk Indians at IMDb
- ^ Elaine Gold (2002). "English Schmenglish". Proceedings of the 2002 Annual Conference of the Canadian Linguistic Association: 108–120.
