What the kvell?

I like to throw around the occasional Yiddish term because the terms sound more interesting, or are more useful, than their English equivalent. The word "schlep," which means to carry something heavy or awkward, is a good example. But you have to be careful in how you use the words.

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd may not be the clearest thinker or the nicest person around, but she's an able stylist and has a good command of the vernacular, so it was surprising to see that she picked out the wrong Yiddish term in her column yesterday. Ann Althouse was one of many who noticed:

Yeah, it's Maureen Dowd, but the NYT has editors. How embarrassing to go cutesy with the Yiddish but use completely the wrong word!

The misused word was "kvell," which is a Yiddish term that means "to burst with pride." See if what Dowd wrote would make sense in that context:

It’s not just congressional Democrats who are kvelling. Mark Zuckerberg called the president to vent about government incursions on privacy. And the New Yorker editor, David Remnick, talked to The New Republic about Obama’s “locutions,” his habit of going, “On the one hand. On the other hand. That is to say.”

You generally don't burst with pride over something that is causing consternation. The word that Dowd wanted was "kvetch," which in its noun form means a person who complains a lot, and in its verb form simply means to complain. One would think that if anyone understands the topic of kvetching, it would be Times.

Mistakes happen, but what's irritating is that the Times hasn't noted that they've corrected the error, even though they have.

What's perhaps more interesting is the conclusion that Dowd draws:

Due to the inability of the president and congressional Democrats to move their agenda through Congress, the president is having to govern through executive order and revising federal regulations.

Republicans have latched on to this to make the case around the country that Obama is a dictator and an imperial president. But governing through executive order isn’t a sign of strength. It’s a sign of weakness.

And it’s that weakness that has Democrats scared to death.

I think it's a safe bet to assume that the Democratic attack machine will be running overtime in this cycle. It will be interesting to see if that's enough. If the Republicans retake the Senate, you might have the all-time lamest duck in the White House. And given the parlous state of things right now, I don't think that's anything to kvell about.