Let the dog in!

adjective:

1. To complain habitually.
2. A complaint.
3. A habitual complainer.

They begin to look like malcontents who kvetch about the weather so much that they don’t notice the sun coming out.
– David Shenk, “Slamming Gates”, The New Republic, January 26, 1998

Kvetch comes from Yiddish kvetshn, “to squeeze, to complain,” from Middle High German quetzen, quetschen, “to squeeze.”

Do I need to tell you what this word means? The Seattle area is not really known for its bagels, blintzes or matzah balls, but kvetching? Oy!

Originally, the kvetching in our household flowed one way: out of me!

I’m not the complaint department! said DH more than a few times. If only that goy knew this word, he could have said, I’m not the kvetch department!

Now, Kid speaks. Add her to the kvetching. Why CAN’T my room be a Cinderella room now? This dress is SCRATCHY! The DOG ate my applesauce! Yes, I’ve proudly passed on another winning trait.

Also, notice the NOUN FORM above (#3)! I might have kvetched enough to qualify as BEING a kvetch!

But you kvetch, too, right?

No? Only me?

Oy! I feel a kvetch coming on….

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