Derived Meanings
The expression "falling into the schmaltz pot" refers to the concept of having something good happen to you, often by sheer luck (e.g., being born into a good family). Someone who happens to have good luck is given the reputation of being a schmalz.
In American English, via Yiddish, schmaltz (adj. schmaltzy) has also an informal meaning of "excessively sentimental or florid music or art" or "maudlin sentimentality", similar to one of the uses of the words "corn" or "corny". Its earliest usage in this sense dates to the mid-1930s. In German, schmalzig is also used in the same sense.
Schmaltz and Schmalz are common last names amongst Ashkenazi Jewish people of German and Austrian descent. Schmaltz was used as a metonymic occupational name for a chandler.
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Famous quotes containing the words derived and/or meanings:
“Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never can willingly abandon it. They may be distressed in the midst of all their power; but they will never look to anything but power for their relief.”
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