What’s the Difference Between a Shmegege and a Shmendrik?

What’s the Difference Between a Shmegege and a Shmendrik?

Yiddish has no shortage of words for unlikeable people, many of which begin with the phoneme sh or, in this case, shm. A shmegege (rhymes with the name Peggy) is someone who is ignorant and incompetent and doesn’t realize it. The shmegege might be not only untalented, but also petty and sycophantic. The word need not necessarily describe a person at all, but simply the kind of thing a shmegege would think or say — hot air, cockamamie. The word s…