Chutzpah

“Chutzpah” is a Yiddish word meaning impudence or unmitigated gall, sheer guts plus arrogance, bravery that borders on rudeness. If you have chutzpah, you say what you think without worrying about hurting someone’s feelings, looking silly, or getting into trouble — what American comedy used to be before the woke ideology of the Left ruined everything.

In the Joys of Yiddish, Leo Rosten gives the classic definition: “Chutzpah is that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed both his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is now an orphan.”

Case in Point

A little old lady sold pretzels on a street corner for 25 cents each.

Every day a young man left his office building at lunch time, and as he passed the pretzel stand, he left a quarter, but never took a pretzel. This continued for over 3 years.

The young man and the old lady never exchanged a word. One day, as the young man passed the old lady’s stand and left his quarter as usual, the pretzel lady spoke to him for the first time. 

Without blinking an eye she said: “They’re 35 cents now.”