Schmatte
SHMAH-tuh • Noun
שמאַטע
A rag — and, by extension, any garment you're insulting.
Literally a rag or dishcloth, but the real work happens as a put-down: the dress someone overpaid for, the shapeless sweater you refuse to throw out. The 'schmatte business' is the garment trade, said with equal parts pride and eye-roll.
Start with the 'shm' cluster, no vowel in front. The 'a' is flat like 'father', and the ending is a lazy 'uh' — never 'shmatt-ay'.
Standard YIVO transliteration: shmate
Dialects: SHMAH-tuh (Anglo-American) vs. SHMA-te (YIVO). Plural shmates / 'shmattes.'
Etymology: From Polish szmata (rag). YIVO renders it shmate; English dictionaries list schmatte, shmatte, and schmatta — Merriam-Webster's headword is 'schmatte,' which is why we use it here.
"Four hundred dollars for that schmatte? For this we came to America?"
"I have a whole drawer of conference-swag schmattes I'll never wear but somehow can't donate."