''Shmohawk'' or ''schmohawk'' is a slang term that might have derived from '' schmo'', a slang term meaning ''fool''. The

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

television show ''

Curb Your Enthusiasm ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', also known colloquially simply as ''Curb'', is an American television comedy of manners created by Larry David that premiered on HBO with an hour-long special in October 17, 1999, followed by 12 seasons broadcast from Oc ...

'' gave the word recent notoriety. Earlier uses of the word can be found in the ''

Crusader Rabbit ''Crusader Rabbit'' is an American animated cartoon series created by Alexander Anderson and Jay Ward, and the first of its kind to be produced specifically for television. Its main characters were Crusader Rabbit and his sidekick Ragland T. T ...

'' animated cartoon "Crusader and the Schmohawk Indians", released in 1950 and in

Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; June 10, 1915April 5, 2005) was a Canadian-American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only write ...

's 1958 novel '' Henderson the Rain King''. ''Shmohawk'' or ''schmohawk'' is the word " Mohawk" with the reduplicative prefix ''shm-'' that conveys a mocking or dismissive meaning. It is borrowed from the

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

language, in which the prefix has been used to similar effect.

Other usages in popular culture

*In the 1985 film '' Transylvania 6-5000'',

Jeff Goldblum Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum ( ; born October 22, 1952) is an American actor and musician. He has starred in some of the highest-grossing films, such as ''Jurassic Park'' (1993) and ''Independence Day'' (1996), as well as their sequels. Goldblum ...

's character calls Ed Begley, Jr.'s character a shmohawk after stating he didn't know

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a Sapience, sapient Frankenstein's monster, crea ...

was still alive. *In the Season 6 premiere of the HBO show ''

'' entitled “Meet the Blacks”,

Larry David Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He is known for his dry wit, portrayals of awkward social situations, and brutally honest takes on everyday life. He has received two Prim ...

, the main character, struggles through traffic while his wife Cheryl tries to impress upon her husband the scale of tragedy caused by a large hurricane. Larry yells out to another driver, "Hey dum dum. Go ahead. Move in," and this interaction reminds Larry that his father often used to call bad drivers "shmohawks." Larry continues to use the term in later episodes.

References

External links

* {{YouTube, id=qws-4dOrBrU, title=''Shmohawk'' clip from ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' Jewish comedy and humor Slurs related to low intelligence