"Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!" What does this strange sentence mean?

zbeckabee

At the start of each episode, Laverne and Shirley are seen skipping down the street, arm in arm, reciting a Yiddish-American hopscotch chant: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!" This then leads into the series' theme song which is entitled "Making Our Dreams Come True" and is performed by Cyndi Grecco. schlemiel : an inept clumsy person; a bungler; a dolt (Yiddish shlemil) schlimazel : a chronically unlucky person (שלימזל shlimazl, from Middle High German slim 'crooked' and Hebrew מזל mazzāl 'luck') (OED) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Yiddish_origin Hasenpfeffer (also spelled hasenfeffer) is a traditional German stew made from marinated rabbit or hare. Pfeffer is not only the name of a spice, but also of a dish where the animal's blood is used as a gelling agent for the sauce. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasenpfeffer Aug 21 09, 9:33 PM

star_gazer

Good, and how does the word "Incorporated!" fit into all of this? Clumsy, unlucky, rabbit stew company? Aug 21 09, 9:43 PM

flem-ish

"A shlemiel is somebody who often spills his soup, a shlemazl is the person the soup lands on." http://www.translation-services-usa.com/languages/yiddish.php Aug 21 09, 9:56 PM

zbeckabee

INCORPORATE in-kor-pe-rat vb -rated; -rating 1 : to unite closely or so as to form one body : blend 2 : to form, form into, or become a corporation 3 : to give material form to : embody incorporation -kor-pe-ra-shen n (C) 2008 Zane Publishing, Inc. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (C) 2008 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated I think it's a bit of a commentary on Laverne and Shirley, themselves...and the friendship they shared. I suppose it can be taken many different ways. Aug 21 09, 10:12 PM