Word of the Day for Saturday February 5, 2005
kvetch \KVECH\, intransitive verb:
To complain habitually.
noun:
1. A complaint.
2. A habitual complainer.
People kvetched when someone else wouldn't relinquish his
position.
--Barry Lopez, "Before the Temple of Fire." [1]Harper's
Magazine, January 1998
They begin to look like malcontents who kvetch about the
weather so much that they don't notice the sun coming out.
--David Shenk, "Slamming Gates," [2]The New Republic,
January 26, 1998
Time for my biennial kvetch about the West End theatre.
--Simon Hoggart, "Hose bans, petrol mania: saying 'don't
panic' always triggers chaos," [3]The Guardian, November 4,
2000
"He's just a very up person," she says, which is odd,
because he is also a big complainer, a class-A kvetch.
--Penny Wolfson, "Moonrise," [4]The Atlantic, December 2001
He had difficulty getting American publishers for his later
novels, partly because of his self-created image by then as
a crusty old kvetch.
--Geoffrey Wheatcroft, "What Kingsley Can Teach Martin,"
[5]The Atlantic, September 2000
_________________________________________________________
Kvetch comes from Yiddish kvetshn, "to squeeze, to complain,"
from Middle High German quetzen, quetschen, "to squeeze."
www.dictionary.com
kvetch \KVECH\, intransitive verb:
To complain habitually.
noun:
1. A complaint.
2. A habitual complainer.
People kvetched when someone else wouldn't relinquish his
position.
--Barry Lopez, "Before the Temple of Fire." [1]Harper's
Magazine, January 1998
They begin to look like malcontents who kvetch about the
weather so much that they don't notice the sun coming out.
--David Shenk, "Slamming Gates," [2]The New Republic,
January 26, 1998
Time for my biennial kvetch about the West End theatre.
--Simon Hoggart, "Hose bans, petrol mania: saying 'don't
panic' always triggers chaos," [3]The Guardian, November 4,
2000
"He's just a very up person," she says, which is odd,
because he is also a big complainer, a class-A kvetch.
--Penny Wolfson, "Moonrise," [4]The Atlantic, December 2001
He had difficulty getting American publishers for his later
novels, partly because of his self-created image by then as
a crusty old kvetch.
--Geoffrey Wheatcroft, "What Kingsley Can Teach Martin,"
[5]The Atlantic, September 2000
_________________________________________________________
Kvetch comes from Yiddish kvetshn, "to squeeze, to complain,"
from Middle High German quetzen, quetschen, "to squeeze."
www.dictionary.com
