Klutz

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A klutz is a person who is clumsy, foolish, inept, or accident-prone. The term is perhaps derived from the Yiddish קלאָץ klots ('wooden beam'), cognate with the German klotz, meaning a "block" or "lump".

The term has largely permeated into the English language, even amongst speakers of English with no Yiddish or indeed Jewish heritage.

Klutz is also a surname and the name of an imprint of Scholastic Press. John Cassidy has used the coincidence of the name of the publisher and the Yiddish word to exploit the title in some of his books, for instance Juggling for the Complete Klutz.

Klütz (English spelling: "Kluetz") is a surname and a town in the Nordwestmecklenburg district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated near the Baltic Sea coast, 22 km northwest of Wismar, and 33 km northeast of Lübeck.

Troj/Klutz-A is a trojan horse that affects Windows by allowing remote access and stealing personal information, a form of spyware.

Captain Klutz is a comic strip superhero parody of Mad Magazine.

[edit] Examples

• Phoebe: "Mel, back home we'd call you a klutz."
  Melissa: "Use a lot of Yiddish back in Texas, do you?"

— Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra.

• "[The few doctors willing to replace those who are retiring are] mostly physicians who have had difficulty establishing regular ob-gyn practices. Mentioning . . . Out of [one abortion doctor's] first six months of work, there are nine malpractice suits ... After it was apparent the guy was a klutz, they kept using him, and trying to cover for him, because they couldn't find another provider."

— Dr. Robert Crist, abortion doctor, St. Petersburg Times, June 3, 1990

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"kLuTz" is also the alias of composer Greg Pak, who is dedicated to remixing and arranging game music, and is well known for his easy listening instrumentals.