''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 premium television network, 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 ba ...

television show ''

Curb Your Enthusiasm ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' is an American television sitcom produced and broadcast by HBO since October 15, 2000, and created by Larry David, who stars as a semi-fictionalized version of himself. It follows David's life as a semi-retired televisio ...

'' gave the word recent notoriety. Earlier uses of the word can be found in the '' Crusader Rabbit'' animated cartoon "Crusader and the Schmohawk Indians", released in 1950 and in Saul Bellow'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 (, 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 ...

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's character calls

Ed Begley, Jr. Edward James Begley Jr. (born September 16, 1949) is an American actor and environmental activist. Begley has appeared in hundreds of films, television shows, and stage performances. He played Dr. Victor Ehrlich on the television series '' St. ...

's character a shmohawk after stating he didn't know Frankenstein was still alive. *In the Season 6 premiere of the HBO show ''

'' entitled “Meet the Blacks”, Larry David, 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