It’s interesting to compare German schmusen and Yiddish schmooze, which are clearly related. But they differ in meaning: Schmooze is all talk, while schmusen is all action—talking would break the mood.
Note on pronunciation. Four distinct syllables: SHMOO·zeh·katt·seh. The main stress is on the first syllable, the third one gets a secondary stress.
[Source: Wild Things in the German Language: Kindle version | iBook version]
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4 comments:
Schmusekatze is just a wonderful word, and the drawing is perfect. It shows exactly the self-satisfied look cats have when they are contented. Nice distinction between schmooze and schmusen.
What a sweet drawing. When it comes to cats your satirical brush softens. (I was going to say you keep your claws in.) I also like the form/shape of the drawing, i.e., the curve of the human arm on which the cat is so snugly balanced. I've never come across the word Schmusekatze before and I like your succinct distinction between shmooze and schmusen. I know when the word shmooze would be used; when would you use schmusen?
Correction: I thought that schmooze didn't have a "c" but after I signed off, I looked up the spelling and I was wrong. (I should have known better than to doubt your accuracy.
@Marlene and Esther: Thx.
As to meaning: I would say schmusen is between streicheln (to pet--lightly, as you do with animals!) and knutschen (heavy kissing with tight body contact--a great word BTW). However, it does not have to be sexual; for example, a mother and child may schmusen--it's always an expression of affection, but not always of desire or sexual attraction.
Spelling: You give me too much credit--I did not look it up--just wrote it as it came to my mind. I also think it's a transliteraion from Yiddish, in which case one may have variant spellings in English.
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