[Ads-l] klutz before 1959?

Mark Mandel thnidu at GMAIL.COM
Sat Apr 29 15:50:40 UTC 2017


Thanks, all, for your answers. It seems, then, that "klutz" really is in
documented American use no earlier than the sixties.

Mark
. <http://X-Clacks-Overhead.dw/GNU-Terry_Pratchett>  .
<http://www.gnuterrypratchett.com/>


On Sat, Apr 29, 2017 at 1:19 AM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:

> The Oxford dictionary online
> <https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/klutz> gives the etymology
> of "klutz" ("North American, informal: A clumsy, awkward, or foolish
> person. ") as
>
> 1960s: from Yiddish klots ‘wooden block’.
>
> Most of the other online dictionaries I've checked agree with this dating,
> but Merriam-Webster <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/klutz>
> says "First Known Use: 1959".
>
> Is it really that new in English? Can anyone antedate it?
>
> Mark
>
>
> . <http://X-Clacks-Overhead.dw/GNU-Terry_Pratchett>  .
> <http://www.gnuterrypratchett.com/>
>
>

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