''Hakn a tshaynik'' (literally "to knock a

teakettle A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a type of pot specialized for boiling water, commonly with a ''lid'', ''spout'', and ''handle'', or a small electric kitchen appliance of similar shape that functions in a self-contained ...

"; Yiddish: האַקן אַ טשײַניק), meaning to rattle on loudly and insistently, but without any meaning, is a widely used

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

idiom An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. Categorized as formulaic language, ...

atic phrase.''

Born to Kvetch ''Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All Its MoodsBorn to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All Its Moods'', Michael Wex, St. Martin's Press, New York, 2005, ''Born to Kvetch'' (Audio CD). is a 2005 book by Michael Wex dev ...

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Michael Wex Michael Wex (born September 12, 1954) is a Canadian novelist, playwright, translator, lecturer, performer, and author of books on language and literature.St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...

, New York City, 2005, It is most often used in the negative imperative sense: ''Hak mir nisht keyn tshaynik!'' (literally "Don't knock a teakettle at me!"; Yiddish: !האַק מיר נישט קיין טשײַניק), in the sense of "Stop bothering me!". Aside from the metaphor of the subject of the

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

, making meaningless noise as if he/she were banging on a teakettle, the phrase gains from the imagery of the lid of a teakettle full of boiling water "moving up and down, banging against the kettle like a jaw in full flap, clanging and banging and signifying nothing"; the less the contents, the louder and more annoying the noise. The phrase became familiar to many Americans without contact with Yiddish speakers by appearing in popular Three Stooges short films. In the 1936 film '' A Pain in the Pullman'', when caught sneaking out of their rooms without paying rent, Moe tries to explain to the landlady by saying, "Well, we were just on our way to hock the trunk so we could pay you," to which Larry kicks in, "Hey, hock a chynick for me too, will ya?", earning himself a swift kick in the shin. In 1938's ''

Mutts to You ''Mutts to You'' is a 1938 short subject directed by Charley Chase starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 34th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the c ...

'', Larry, disguised as a Chinese laundryman, pretending to speak

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

, utters a stream of Yiddish doubletalk, ending with "''Hak mir nisht keyn tshaynik'', and I don't mean ''efsher'' (maybe)!" The phrase has become relatively common in English in half-translated forms such as "Don’t hock me a chainik", to the point where shortened versions of the phrase, such as "You don't have to hock me about it!" proliferate on television and the movies, particularly where the speaker is intended to represent a resident of New York City, even if not Jewish. On '' The West Wing'', Toby Zeigler says to Sam Seaborn, "what are you hocking me for?", referring to Toby's New York Jewish background. Modern Hebrew also contains an idiomatic expression of precisely identical meaning.

References

{{Onesource, date=June 2008 Yiddish words and phrases