tchotchkes

[Diana Sheron Fingar]

I'm afraid I don't have an English context/date pre-1964 for
"tchotchkes", but I'm wondering why anyone would want to have an
exhibit of them. Tchotchkes are junky ugly little knicknacks, like
you'd get on vacation, or junk out of people's attics. It's a
perjorative term.

Also, I'm 21 and mostly from SE Ohio (my folks are from Chicago and
Long Island) -- never heard "picayune" except in Bloom County and never
knew what it meant.

Diana Fingar

PS: If you've ever been to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, that place
is FULL of tchotchkes. Not worth the price of admission. But the actual
architechture of the building's nice.