"a schlemiel of" meaning 'a lot of'

[Jonathan Lighter]

What I heard in 1959-60, from fellow-child Johnny Taylor, was "the whole
shmiel." I remember because it sounded so weird and because it my first
encounter with a "shlemiel"-like word.

GB proves I'm not crazy with six exx., the earliest alleged to be from 1974.

There are also 3,700 raw Googlits for "the whole schmiel" in that spelling
alone.

GB has a number of "whole schlemiels" back to 1978.

JL
On Fri, Apr 15, 2011 at 10:55 AM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "a schlemiel of" meaning 'a lot of'
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I've heard "schlemiel" used where I'd expect "shmear", as in "the whole
> ___"
> meaning "the whole thing / the whole mess / everything / all of it".
> Made-up
> example:
>
> "And what a breakfast! Coffee, bagels, lox, cream cheese, onion, orange
> juice, oatmeal, toast, jam, French toast and *real* maple syrup ... the
> whole {shmear / schlemiel}!"
>
> I'd guess this person heard such usages and inferred that "schlemiel" meant
> something like "a large amount".
>
> Mark Mandel
>
> On Fri, Apr 15, 2011 at 10:47 AM, Barbara Need <bhneed at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Overheard at the Post Office:
> >
> > At Thanksgiving "we had a schlemiel of guests." It was clear from the
> > context that she was using this to express quantity--some comment
> > about a shy child followed. I don't see anything like it via Google.
> > Any thoughts?
> >
> > Barbara
> >
> > Barbara Need
> > Etna, NY
> >
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