What is the difference between schmaltz and schmaltzy?
For starters, while a mensch is, by definition, menschy, schmaltz is not necessarily schmaltzy. This is because the term “schmaltz” refers to chicken fat whereas “schmaltzy” has a different meaning. Yet the two terms, like chicken fat, have connective tissue, so to speak.
Many experts believe that “schmaltz” derives from the German word “schmelzen,” which means “to melt.” This makes sense because in order to create schmaltz, one must melt the fatty tissue of a chicken (or goose) and collect the drippings. The drippings are then filtered to remove any unwanted chunks and clarified to skim off any remaining impurities. Nobody wants chunky schmaltz just like nobody wants liquid popcorn or spongy granola.
When schmaltz is added to a dish during the cooking process, the result is an infusion of delicious flavor that instantly elevates any cuisine from decent to decadent. Thus, the fatty schmaltz provides the “wow” factor, taking a dish to over-the-top tastiness. Of course, this does not mean that you should pour schmaltz over everything that you eat. However, if you combine schmaltz with mustard to create “schmustand,” you might be on to something. The same could be said of “schmaple syrup,” “schmacaroons” or “schmarshmallows.”
As noted above, schmaltz, like butter, is clarified by skimming the fat and removing impurities. Clarifying fat is like clarifying a misstatement because when you misspeak, you proverbially skim the fat and remove impurities so that your message is rendered down into a clearer form. Thus, the next time you fail to properly convey your point, try to rectify it simply by delivering the schmaltz (clarified) version. However, if you deliver the schmaltz version, that does not mean you should get “schmaltzy” with it.
The term “schmaltzy” refers to something that is overly sentimental or maudlin, often in the context of entertainment. Schmaltzy has a relatively broad meaning and can apply across the full schmaltzy spectrum including to things that are a bit tacky, somewhat corny or excessively sappy. Schmaltzy, of course, is a play on the term “schmaltz,” alluding to schmaltz’s culinary effect. Just like schmaltz is the x-factor ingredient that elevates a meal to mouthwatering moments, schmaltziness is the x-factor performance that elevates a show to heartwarming heights.
In the world of theatre, the hope is that schmaltziness, no matter how corny or exaggerated, will hit the audience with waves of emotion and leave them tearfully begging for more. Many experts believe that the term “schmaltzy” appeared no later than the 1930’s and likely as a byproduct of Yiddish theatre, which often featured tear-jerking dramatization and overboard sentimentality. Suffice it to say, Yiddish theatre certainly was not known for its subtlety; even the show titles were schmaltzy. One could easily imagine semi-mawkish titles such as:
The Night I Accidentally Fell In Love With a Klutz
The Shlemiel Who Saved the Town but Remained a Schlemiel
The Frustrated Fruit-stand Owner and the Apple of His Ay-Yay-Yay
The Plotz Thickens: The Worrywart Receives More Bad News
When the Yenta Told the Truth and Nobody Listened
Butchered: The Meat Merchant Who Lacked the Chops and Couldn’t Deliver a Line
Pot-Luck: The Day the Cholent Almost Ran Out
For the record, a show or movie will not be considered schmaltzy merely because the word “schmaltz” is uttered. For example, the 1996 movie “Jerry McGuire” would not automatically be considered schmaltzy if Tom Cruise’s character—instead of screaming “Show me the money!”—screamed “Show me the schmaltz!” It just so happens, however, that in the “Jerry McGuire” movie, the schmaltziness arrived in spades when Rene Zellweger’s character declared: “You had me at hello.” That line is quintessential schmaltz, oozing with sappiness and dripping with mushiness. Audiences gobbled it up and that line—“You had me at hello”—was so impactful that it has become part of everyday parlance. For example, if a nurse offers a patient something soft to eat after undergoing a tonsillectomy, the patent will undoubtedly respond: “You had me at Jello.”
For the record, schmaltz herring has nothing to do with chicken fat schmaltz. According to fishmongers, schmaltz herring refers to fatty herring, i.e., herring that has reached an age of optimal fattiness. (For most people, the age of optimal fattiness is usually during infancy or after they get married.) To be clear, schmaltz herring is not fish covered in chicken fat, just like donuts are not nuts.
Final thought: What is the Yiddish version of the expression “You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?” Answer: “You can schmaltz the schmaltz, but can you waltz the waltz?”
By Jon Kranz
