The Post Bros. Earn “Schlemiel of the Week” Honors

Photo: Llenrock Group blog

A blog entry from the Llenrock Group, a local real estate advisory/investment banking firm, dubs the Post Bros. company “Schlemiel of the Week.” For those who aren’t up on their Yiddish, here’s the definition from the Yiddish Slang Dictionary:

Shlemiel
a clumsy, inept person
This is similar to the word “klutz”, but rather than coming from German, comes from the Hebrew word שלא מועיל (shlemil) meaning “ineffective”.

I’m not sure the author, Eric Hawthorn, is using the right word in this case. He writes of the Post Bros.’ infamously suggestive Craigslist ads:

I started to report on this in last Friday’s Week in Review, then got a sneaking suspicion that the Post Brother’s weren’t behind this. I checked the Goldtex website and found it to be completely classy–entendre-free, not a near-naked woman in sight. I assumed these ads were someone’s efforts to smear the Post Brother’s reputation.

Not so; the company wrote them. Hawthorn then says:

Whether this helps lease space in the Goldtex building remains to be seen, though it goes without saying that the Post Brothers have officially established their “bro appeal”–though it remains to be seen how many “bros” can afford one of their lofts.

And then he posts a different, similarly suggestive real estate advertisement (top), with a note that reveals his own mindset: “When’s that open house again?”

How do you say “bro” in Yiddish?

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