Saturday, October 08, 2005

2005 AD

Mensch

Mensch (Yiddish מענטש; also mentsch, mentsh, mensh, or mench, plural - mentchen) is a
German noun meaning a "human".
In
Yiddish (from which the word has migrated into American English), mensch roughly means "a good person". A mensch is a particularly good person, like "a stand-up guy," a person with the qualities one would hope for in a dear friend or trusted colleague. According to author and Yiddish popularist Leo Rosten,
[a] mensch is a someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character. The key to being "a real mensch" is nothing less than character, rectitude, dignity, a sense of what is right, responsible, decorous. (Rosten, Leo. 1968.
The Joys of Yiddish. New York: Pocket Books. 237)

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