Chutzpah is a Yiddish word meaning gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, sheer
guts plus arrogance; it’s Yiddish and, as Leo Rosten writes, no other word,
and no other language, can do it justice. This is a great example: A little old lady sold pretzels on a street corner for a dollar each. Every
day a young man would leave his office building at lunch time and as he
passed the pretzel stand he would leave her a dollar, but never take a
pretzel. This offering went on for more than 3 years. The two of them never
spoke. One day as the young man passed the old lady’s stand and left his
dollar as usual, the pretzel lady spoke to him for the first time in over 3
years. Without blinking an eye she said: “They’re a dollar and a quarter
now.” (thanks Hammie!)
