Mel Brooks Starts Nonprofit Foundation To Save Word 'Schmuck'

*Mel Brooks Starts Nonprofit Foundation To Save Word 'Schmuck'
*

(Sent by a special Chicago correspondent)


November 2, 2007. NEW YORK. Saying he could no longer stand idly by
while a vital part of American culture is lost forever, activist and
Broadway producer Mel Brooks has founded a nonprofit organization
dedicated to preserving the word "schmuck."

An emotional Brooks stopped short of kvetching at a schmuck fundraiser
Monday.

"Schmuck is dying," a sober Brooks said during a 2,000-person rally held
in his hometown of Williamsburg, Brooklyn Monday. "For many of us,
saying 'schmuck' is a way of life. Yet when I walk down the street and
see people behaving in foolish, pathetic, or otherwise schmucky ways, I
hear only the words 'prick' and 'douche bag.' I just shake my head and
think, 'I don't want to live in a world like this.'"

The nonprofit, Sch mucks For Schmuck, has compiled schmuck-related data
from the past 80 years and conducted its own independent research on
contemporary "schmuck" usage. According to Brooks, the statistics are
frightening:

Utterances of the word "schmuck" have declined every year since its peak
in 1951, and in 2006, the word was spoken a mere 28 times , 17 of these
times by Brooks himself. The study indicates that today, when faced with
a situation in which one can use a targeted or self-deprecating insult
to convey a general feeling of disgust, people are 50 times more likely
to use the word
"jerk" than "schmuck," 100 times more likely to use "dick," and 15,000
times more likely to use "fucking asshole."

Perhaps more startling, only 23 percent of men know what schmuck means,
and only 1.2 percent of these men are under the age of 78. If such
trends continue, Brooks estimates that by 2011, such lesser-used terms
as "imbecile," "dummy," "schlub," and "contemptible ne'er-do-well" will
all surpass schmuck, which is projected to completely disappear by the
year 2020.

"We must save this word!" Brooks said to thunderous applause as those in
attendance began chanting "Schmuck! Schmuck! Schmuck!" "How will we be
able to charmingly describe someone who acts in an inappropriate
manner? Especially given the tragic loss of the word 'schmegeggie' in
2001. So I urge you: Tonight, when you get home, please, call up your
family, your
friends, your loved ones, and tell them they're a bunch of schmucks."

Hundreds turned out at a Boca Raton, FL demonstration to show their
support for the dying word.

"I've never told anyone this before," Brooks added, choking back tears,
"but my father was a schmuck."

The foundation has already raised more than $20 million, thanks to
donations from supporters such as Jackie Mason, Albert Brooks, the
Schtupp Institute, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), and the Henny Youngman
Endowment for the Preserva tion o f Schmekel. The money will go toward
projects aimed at reintegrating "schmuck" into the English lexicon,
including billboards and flyers plastered with the word "schmuck," the
upcoming 5K Schlep for Schmuck Awareness, and a new Mel Brooks film.

"The world cannot afford to lose this valuable and versatile word,"
Brooks told reporters during a charity auction in Manhattan's Upper West
Side Tuesday, where attendees bid for the chance to have a private lunch
with Brooks and repeatedly call him a schmuck. "You can be a poor
schmuck, a lazy schmuck, a dumb schmuck, or just a plain old schmuck. A
group of people can
be collectively referred to as schmucks. You can call someone a schmuck,
and you can be called a schmuck. You can even call yourself a schmuck."

"Plus, it's just so fun to say," Brooks added. "Schmuck."

Many of the foundation's volunteers say they share Brooks' passion for
the word "schmuck," as well as his outrage that it is slowly
disappearing from everyday use. They claim that if they do not act now,
the trend could create a snowball effect.

"Today it's schmuck, tomorrow it might be toochis," said SFS volunteer
Harry Steinbergmann, 82. "What's next, schlemiel? Putz? Schlimazel?"

Steinbergmann went on to classify this scenario as farcockteh.

Brooks will be appearing at Brooklyn's Francis Scott Key Junior High on
Nov. 12 to give an informal lecture about his experiences using the word
"schmuck," and build grassroots support among a key group of young
Americans by explaining that "schmuck" is a Yiddish term for the
foreskin on the head of a penis. In addition, he has hinted at the
possibility of a reunion with longtime comedy partner Gene Wilder,
during which the two will call each other schmucks.