I’m a clumsy person. “klutz” american English, never heard or read this word in England
Looks like this word is a war child.
klutz | klʌts |
noun informal, mainly North American
a clumsy, awkward, or foolish person.
ORIGIN
1930s: from Yiddish klots ‘wooden block’.
Indeed, a “Tol(l)patsch” is a clumsy person, but a bit on the funny side.
The word is Hungarian and goes back to the clumsy footwear of Hungarian infantrymen in the Austrian army.
So if you think of the “Tol(l)patsch” as a clown with shoe size 17 and therefore ending up with a cake in the face, you are not far off.
A “Tol(l)patsch” lacks physical dexterity, but not appropriate behaviour.
A “Klotz”, or often “grober Klotz” (if it is a person and not a piece of wood) in German lacks behaviour, so I am not sure about the American/Yddish “klutz”,
2 Likes
Ich hab’s. Ein Barmann, der einem das Bier verschüttet? Nicht lustig. Ein “Tollpatsch”