I love a versatile word, and as a fairly dramatic person, there’s few I love more than “plotz.”
Now, plotz, the Yiddish word that comes from the Yiddish word “platsn” — “to crack, split, burst, fizzle out (of a plan)” — means, literally, to “collapse or faint,” or to figuratively split, burst, or explode from emotion.
Yet the reason for plotzing can be positive or negative. For example, “Did you know Pink was Jewish?! When I found out, I was about ready to plotz!” Or, “I can’t believe Adam Sandler wasn’t nominated for an Oscar for ‘Uncut Gems,’ I’m so angry I could plotz!” Or, “We were about ready to plotz when we discovered that Jeopardy! featured a Jewish category back in 2020.”
Plotz is definitely one of those words that has snuck into the English language and has a place of honor in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, yet it is nowhere near as ubiquitous as other Yiddish words like “klutz.”
The word is also quintessential to Jewish humor. It appears in the comedy of the Three Stooges (all of them Jewish) and even in the autobiography of Harpo Marx, who recalls a drunk lady who “plotzed herself in the carriage and took out her gin bottle and took a long swig.” Here, he uses the term to mean, literally, fall down, inebriated.
Plotz also means place and is a Jewish and German last name, like that of author and podcaster David Plotz. And funny enough, it is the name of the “Animaniacs” greatest villain, Thaddeus Plotz, the CEO of Warner Bros., who often plotzes with frustration at Yakko, Wakko and Dot. At the time the “Animaniacs” aired, the CEO of Warner Bros. was indeed Jewish, but the fictional Thaddeus Plotz was the focal point of the show’s “A Christmas Plotz,” so I think we can safely say he isn’t meant to be a Jewish stereotype.
Aside from appearing on my generation’s favorite cartoon, plotz has had many great TV moments. On “Gilmore Girls,” Sookie uses it about a particularly creative recipe that would make Luke “plotz.” In “Crazy Ex Girlfriend,” Rebecca Bunch’s friend Paula pretends to be a British Jew who kvetched about a waiter: “I bet if you asked him for a crumpet, he would plotz.”
And on a particularly Jewish (and somewhat offensive?) episode of “2 Broke Girls,” the non-Jewish Caroline calls the cupcakes she and Max deliver to a bar mitzvah: “all 100% kosher and so gorgeous you could plotz.” As professor Rebecca Margolis wrote in 2023, however, using the word plotz doesn’t help Caroline come off as one of the crowd, with the Orthodox Jewish mother, Esther Rochel, responding with a dismissive “This one’s seen some Streisand, yes?”
There’s a datedness to the Yiddish term, and it’s just not as commonly used by a younger, hipper generation of Jews. But I’m here to say that I don’t think the word gets as much use as it deserves. In a world where we’re all so scared of being “cringey,” I think expressing genuine big emotion is refreshing. We should plotz more at the happy and surprising moments — and also use the word to express our rage, disappointment and exhaustion when we need to.
Plus, there’s just a genuinely delightful sound to it. I bet all the kids around you will plotz from laughter if you use it more.
