Definition of chutzpah

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Sep 17, 2009
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Chutzpah is a Yiddish word meaning gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, sheer guts plus arrogance; it's Yiddish and, as Leo Rosten writes, "no other word and no other language" can do it justice. This example is better than 1,000 words. Read the story below and you'll understand.

A little old lady sold pretzels on a street corner for 25 cents each. Every day a young man would leave his office building at lunch time, and as he passed the pretzel stand, he would leave her a quarter, but never take a pretzel.

This went on for more than 3 years. The two of them never spoke. One day, as the young man passed the old lady's stand and left his quarter as usual, the pretzel lady spoke to him. Without blinking an eye she said:

"They're 35 cents now."
 
Classic illustration of the Yiddish word "chutzpah:"
A man is brought before a judge for the crime of killing his parents
and pleads for mercy on the grounds that he is an orphan.
 

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