http://nerdfury.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] nerdfury.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] 1word1day 2010-09-24 04:04 am (UTC)

The earliest recorded usage according to the OED is:

1899 A. M. Binstead Houndsditch Day by Day 23
It was through no recklessness or extravagance that he was in this shlemozzle.

It does appear to come from the Yiddish Schlimazel. Yiddish, slim crooked + Hebrew, mazzāl luck.

A consistently unlucky, accident-prone person, a ‘born loser’. Hence as v. trans., to make a schlimazel of (a person).

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