Chutzpah

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For the rap group, see Chutzpah (group).

Chutzpah is the quality of audacity, for good or for bad. The word derives from the Yiddish khutspeh (חצפה) used by Jewish people originally from Eastern Europe. This, in turn, derived from the Hebrew word khutzpah (חֻצְפָּה), meaning "insolence", "audacity", and "impertinence"; though, by now, the English usage of the word has taken on a wider spectrum of meaning, having been popularized through vernacular use, film, literature and television.

Though originally referring to a negative quality, the word chutzpah has developed some interesting positive connotations in English usage, while generally remaining harshly negative when used by English-speaking Jews. In Hebrew, chutzpah is used indignantly, to describe someone who has outstepped the boundaries of accepted polite behaviour for selfish reasons, while in English chutzpah can be spoken in admiration of non-conformist but gutsy audacity. Leo Rosten in The Joys of Yiddish defines chutzpah as "gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, incredible 'guts', presumption plus arrogance such as no other word and no other language can do justice to."

One humorous example of chutzpah is often given as follows: "A boy is on trial for murdering his parents, and he begs of the judge leniency because he is an orphan."

Related terms in Yiddish are khotsef (חצוף) and khatsufeh (חצופֿה), which mean an "impudent man" and an "impudent woman", respectively.

Controversial lawyer Alan Dershowitz entitled his bestselling book of essays Chutzpah. Norman Finkelstein titled his book responding to Dershowitz's claims on Israel Beyond Chutzpah. [1]

Leo Stoller controversially claims to own a trademark on the word. [2]

Judge Alex Kozinski and Eugene Volokh covered the use of chutzpah in legal opinions in an article entitled Lawsuit Shmawsuit, 103 Yale Law Journal 463 (1993), available online here.[3]

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