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"Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!" What does this strange sentence mean?

Question #108194. Asked by star_gazer.
Last updated May 13 2021.

Related Trivia Topics: Vocabulary  
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zbeckabee star
Answer has 26 votes
zbeckabee star
Moderator
19 year member
11752 replies avatar

Answer has 26 votes.
At the start of each episode, Laverne and Shirley are seen skipping down the street, arm in arm, reciting a Yiddish-American hopscotch chant: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!" This then leads into the series' theme song which is entitled "Making Our Dreams Come True" and is performed by Cyndi Grecco.

schlemiel : an inept clumsy person; a bungler; a dolt (Yiddish shlemil)

schlimazel : a chronically unlucky person (?????? shlimazl, from Middle High German slim 'crooked' and Hebrew ??? mazz?l 'luck') (OED)

link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Yiddish_origin

Hasenpfeffer (also spelled hasenfeffer) is a traditional German stew made from marinated rabbit or hare. Pfeffer is not only the name of a spice, but also of a dish where the animal's blood is used as a gelling agent for the sauce.

link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasenpfeffer

Response last updated by CmdrK on May 13 2021.
Aug 21 2009, 9:33 PM
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flem-ish
Answer has 25 votes
flem-ish
24 year member
894 replies avatar

Answer has 25 votes.
"A shlemiel is somebody who often spills his soup, a shlemazl is the person the soup lands on."
link http://www.translation-services-usa.com/languages/yiddish.php

Aug 21 2009, 9:56 PM
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zbeckabee star
Answer has 10 votes
zbeckabee star
Moderator
19 year member
11752 replies avatar

Answer has 10 votes.
INCORPORATE in-kor-pe-rat vb -rated; -rating 1 : to unite closely or so as to form one body : blend 2 : to form, form into, or become a corporation 3 : to give material form to : embody incorporation -kor-pe-ra-shen n

(C) 2008 Zane Publishing, Inc. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (C) 2008 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

I think it's a bit of a commentary on Laverne and Shirley, themselves...and the friendship they shared. I suppose it can be taken many different ways.

Aug 21 2009, 10:12 PM
DrBinger
Answer has 93 votes
Currently Best Answer
DrBinger

Answer has 93 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
Just found this site after hearing this word, remembering L&S, and having the same question. Just to close the loop, I'll be obvious about what's hinted above:

They don't know what they're doing, but they're capable of *something.* They let that belief drive their debut in the world as a team. It's also analogous to, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade."

They are saying, "One of us always spills our soup, the other one is always getting soup spilled on them. So screw it, let's start a soup company!" Even us soup-spilling fools can still traffic in soup.

Feb 15 2014, 12:00 PM
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