loanwords - Is "chutzpah" used by non-Jewish English speakers?


Chutzpah is a term common to both Hebrew and Yiddish, and has been imported into English, at least for Jews. It means approximately audacity, nerve, insolence.


Is chutzpah also used by non-Jewish English speakers?


I think I have only seen it once outside of Jewish publications / communities.



Answer



Yes.


I was brought up knowing the word, not coming from a Jewish background at all. I don't think this is uncommon.


From Wikipedia:



Judge Alex Kozinski and Eugene Volokh in an article entitled Lawsuit Shmawsuit, note the rise in use of Yiddish words in legal opinion. They note that chutzpah has been used 231 times in American legal opinions, 220 of those after 1980.


In the movie Haider (2014) by Vishal Bharadwaj , a modern-day interpretation of Hamlet set in the backdrop of Kashmir conflict, the protagonist uses the word chutzpah to describe India and Pakistan's way of treating the people of Kashmir since the beginning of the conflict.



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