schlock
nounUK /ʃlɒk/ · US /ʃlɑk/
Etymology From Yiddish שלאַק (shlak), related to German Schlag (“blow, strike, hit”).
1
US, Colloquial Any commodity that is shoddy or inferior; now, usually, writing or audiovisual content that is shoddy or inferior.
- Before pop art, there was such a thing as bad taste. Now there’s kitsch, schlock, camp and porn.1978, Don DeLillo, Running Dog, New York: Knopf, page 148:
- “The Kingdom of the Wicked” is not Mr. Burgess at the top of his bent. It is not schlock. It is too individual, too original for that; […].1985 September 22, John Crowley, “St. Paul Meets Nero”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
1 more example
- And just because leftoids make tripe from their position of strength is no reason for trads to make schlock from their position of weakness.2024 June 18, Spencer Klavan, “A Matter of Taste”, in The American Mind:
- Derived terms
- schlockbuster, schlocker, schlockfest, schlock house, schlock-house, schlockmeister, schlockumentary, schlockware, schlocky
- Related terms
- schlockiness