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Schnorrer (שנאָרער; also spelled shnorrer) is a Yiddish term meaning "beggar" or "sponger". The word Schnorrer originally occurred in the German language to describe a freeloader who frequently asks for little things, like cigarettes or little sums of money, without offering a return.

English language usage

The English language usage of the word denotes a sly chiseler who will get money out of his acquaintances any way he can, often through an air of entitlement. A schnorrer is distinguished from an ordinary beggar by dint of his boundless chutzpah. Like "moocher", "schnorrer" does not apply to direct begging or destitution, but rather a habit of getting things (food, tools) by politely or insistently borrowing them with no intention of return.

As backhanded compliment

While generally used in a pejorative or ironic sense, the term can also be used as a backhanded compliment to someone's perseverance, cleverness, or thrift. For instance, Azriel Hildesheimer, known for his travels around Europe to spread his rabbinical wisdom to the poor, and for his refusal to accept payment for his services, was sometimes referred to as the "international schnorrer" for his reliance on the local community to house and feed him wherever he went. Alternatively, Theodor Herzl described his early Eastern European immigrant supporters among the Ostjuden, as his "army of schnorrers". Israel Zangwill later described a schnorrer as a beggar who would chide a donor for not giving enough. The Schnorrer Club of Morrisania was a German-American social club in the Bronx, New York.

Dowry raising

Schnorrers sometimes begged for the dowries of poor women (Hakhnasat Kallah); a practice which was allowed even when it disrupted the public study of the Torah.

In film and literature

• Bernard Herrmann wrote an unsuccessful musical based on this novel.
• At the end of Isaac Bashevis Singer's short story "Gimpel the Fool," Gimpel says another schnorrer is waiting to take his place.
• The comedian Jackie Mason often pokes fun at the stereotype of Jews as schnorrers.
• Jerry Seinfeld in season 11 episode 08 of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Martin Short asks Seinfeld what he thinks is the funniest Jewish word, and Seinfeld responds, "It might be 'schnorrer', which he defines as “someone who picks the cashews out of the mixed nuts.”
• Father Phil in Season 1 of The Sopranos often refers to himself as a "schnorrer," going to parishioner's homes to eat their home cooking, commonly, Carmela Soprano. He defines a "schnorrer" as "Somebody who always shows up in time for free grub." He attributes this language to growing up in Yonkers, NY, among many Jewish people.

References

1. jewishencyclopedia.com – "Schnorrer". Retrieved 24 June 2009.
2. Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews, pp. 398–99: "Herzl found himself visited by shabby, excitable Jews from distant parts, to the dismay of his fashionable wife, who grew to detest the very word Zionism. Yet these were the men who became the foot soldiers, indeed the NCOs and officers, in the Zionist legion; Herzl called them his 'army of schnorrers'. The 'army' met publicly for the first time on 29 August 1897..."
3. jewishvirtuallibrary.org – Begging and Beggars
4. Dalzell, Tom (11 May 2018). The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-76520-6.

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