Terra in Gillespie, Wisconsin, says her family uses the word schlook to mean a tiny amount of liquid, as in just a schlook of milk. It’s from the German noun Schluck, which means “a swallow” or, informally, “a good drop of drink.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Schlook”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Well, hi, this is Tara calling.
Hello, Tara.
From Westby, Wisconsin.
Welcome to the show.
Hi, Tara.
What’s up?
My question for you today is I have a word that has been in my family since I can remember, but it’s only in my family.
Okay.
And it’s a word that we use when we want just a tiny bit more to drink.
So if we’re sitting at the dinner table and my mom wants a little bit more milk, she’ll say, can you just put a little, just a schluck?
And that just means like just a sip or not a full glass, not even a half glass.
It’s just a schluck.
And I have a feeling, a little suspicion that it probably has some German roots, but I’ve never heard it said in any other family except ours.
Terry, your instincts are good about relating it to German because the German word for to swallow is schlucken.
Ha, ha, ha.
And a schluck is a swallow.
So if your mom’s asking for just a little schluck of something, she wants just a little swallow of it.
That’s exactly it.
Yeah.
Yep.
A lot of people use it, especially in your area.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Really.
And it was so funny because my aunt’s family also uses it.
And I was just with one of my cousins recently.
And, you know, I said, you know, just a schluck.
And she said, our family is the only family that says this.
Again, she brought it up to me and said, nobody else I know has ever said that.
And people look funny at me when I say it.
And so I haven’t heard anybody else use it, but it’s one we use often.
Yeah, yeah.
And it’s often spelled, in English, it’s often spelled S-H-L-O-O-K.
In German, it’s S-C-H-L-U-C-K.
There’s an expression, I was so scared I nearly schlucked my Adam’s apple.
Dope.
Which is pretty scared.
You almost swallowed your Adam’s apple.
Right.
Oh, no.
Oh, that’s funny.
Yeah, it’s funny.
My grandmother, she’s German, so that would make sense.
Yeah.
There you go.
Because I asked my mom, I said, where did you, because it’s always my mom.
It’s never my dad that would say it.
It was always my mom.
Well, thanks so much for sharing your family word.
Yeah.
Well, I appreciate it.
It’s fun to hear that.
All righty.
Well, we’re glad you called.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Remnants of history everywhere we walk.
Yep.
Everywhere we go.
It’s interesting there’s the family split there, but that’s often how it is.
Sure.
There’s no meaning necessarily that the mother says it and the father doesn’t.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Schluck.
I like that.
Oh, schluck in my juice.
