"a schlemiel of" meaning 'a lot of'

[Douglas G. Wilson]

On 4/15/2011 10:47 AM, Barbara Need wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Barbara Need<bhneed at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "a schlemiel of" meaning 'a lot of'
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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?
--

In response to this and more particularly to "whole schlemiel" discussed
here in 2009, I happened to note just now (on Language Log) German
"Schlamassel" which is (as expected) supposedly from Yiddish "schlimazel".

Surely "schlemiel" is confusable with "schlimazel" to the typical
English speaker.

German "Schlamassel" means "mess"/"snafu", more-or-less the same as the
English "s[c]hemozzle" (in MW3 etc.).

But in German "das/der ganze Schlamassel" (= "the whole s[c]hemozzle")
apparently is used for "the lot" or "the whole kit and caboodle".
Thousands and thousands of supposed Google hits for this collocation  in
German, many of which appear germane at my cursory and naive glance.

There are also many instances of "the whole s[c]hemozzle" = "the whole
kit and caboodle" or so in English, although in some of the Google hits
the meaning may be "the whole mess/mixup".

Did the English come from German, or vice versa, or are the senses
"mess" and "whole lot" themselves from Yiddish?

Those more familiar with German/Yiddish may be able to correct my
misunderstandings.

-- Doug Wilson

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"Englisch ist ein Schlamassel, Deutsch ist klar und logisch. " --
on-line forum heading (Leo dictionary).

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