Tsuris

Yesterday’s word of the day was tsuris.

Defined as woe, trouble.

I’ve also heard the term used to describe “worry on matters over which you have no control.”

Was wondering about the opinions of others here at sj. What’s your experience with this term and its meaning?

Thanks,
VB

 

It's yiddish, or more accurately bastardized Hebrew (tzarot, or צרות).

 

FWIW...

A friend defined it as a point on the spectrum of discomfort. At one end you had "deep and profound grief". At the other end you had "heartburn". Tsuris was the mid-point of that spectrum.

 

That’s interesting. The person who used it for my situation described it as somewhat like despair in which you’re stuck and can’t do much about it. And worry doesn’t help.

I’ve had about four predicaments or Catch-22s that wrapped themselves like layers of an onion on top of each other. Oy vey!

 

It’s aggravation. In context it’s something someone gives or causes you, it’s not something you have. A Jewish mother says to her son, you give me such tsuris. Not I have tsuris

 

It can actually be both. At least, my Jewish grandmother used it both ways.

 

It drove her meshugganah.

 

Actually, she would say, "Oy! Such tsuris I got."

 

In retrospect, 80 percent of the Yiddish words that my grandmother taught me were racial slurs.

 

I only know one and it's not technically a slur, it's just the Yiddish word for "black." But it takes on that context somehow.

 

Mel Brooks uses it in Blazing Saddles.