Chutzpah

The word "chutzpah" (pronounced hootspah), in Yiddish, means gall, nerve, tenacity, and sometimes an often used word describing a man’s genitals.

However, the word is basically untranslatable without a story.

One day there was an old woman who was selling pretzels on the corner of 47th street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan. A young man from an ad agency saw her and went over, put down a quarter and never took the pretzel. Everyday, he would pass her and put a quarter down, but never take the pretzel. They never spoke, but only exchanged glances. This went on for weeks, months and even years. Three years to be exact.

Then one day, the young man comes down from his office, walks over to the pretzel cart and puts down his quarter. Just as he was about to walk away, the woman turns to him and says, “We had a price increase, pretzels are now 35 cents."


Moral of the story: Don’t wait so long to increase your prices. :-)