This is a word very common in Israeli conversation and it can have a few distinct nuances: As an exclamation, “Nonsense!” or when characterizing others’ opinions as “nonsense” or “stupid.” But, paradoxically, it is also used for encouragement, as when someone tells you about their concerns, worries or fears, and you respond with shTuyyot, to say, “Nonsense, don’t worry about it, it will pass!” Some add a comic flavor by saying, shTuyyot be-mits ‘agvaniyot, “Nonsense with tomato sauce!”
Other related words: shTuti, “nonsensical, silly,” shoTeh, “fool, crazy” and shiTTayon ziqnah, “senility.”
*Plural of shTut, “folly,” like zkhut: zkuyyot, “merits.” Yiddish, however, at times has its own “Hebrew” plural suffixes, as here: shTúsim, zkhúsim.
Yona Sabar is a professor of Hebrew and Aramaic in the department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures at UCLA.
