I Do Not Think This Word Means What You Think It Means

Quite obviously, Yiddish is not Michele Bachmann’s first language.  This video clip from YouTube shows Congresswoman Bachmann (R-MN) doing her best to pronounce the Yiddish word, “CHUTZPAH” which can be loosely translated as audacity or impudence. Depending upon where your ancestors came from, Yiddish is a patois of dialects that will contain elements of Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic and Romance languages. My grandparents spoke a Russian/Polish/German version of it, and I grew up thinking that they always needed to clear their throats. If you’re not descended from Eastern-European Jews, or a speaker of High-German, you are at a strict disadvantage.

Rep. Bachmann’s pronunciation is pretty funny, but it’s funnier still because she does not know what the word means. If you are wondering why a candidate for President would use a word they did not understand or know how to pronounce on TV … so am I.

Silly as this is, I think this little unforced error begs for the question: Is there any place to hide in 2011? Today, if you’re a public figure, or just speaking in public, you have to assume that you are being recorded. Whether by security cameras, flipcam, smartphone or good old-fashioned video camera – your words and actions have a very good chance of finding their way into the body of knowledge of mankind. Can anyone hope to maintain this level of vigilance? Doubtful. That said, the congresswoman’s misstep is a good teaching moment for the rest of us. And, at least we know one thing: Rep. Bachmann had the CHUTZPAH to try to use CHUTZPAH in a sentence. Good try!