Hard to imagine Palin in any sort of Jewish context, but here we go:
In fact, it's worth one's time to look at the classic definition of a schlemile, going by Leo Rosten in The Joys of Yiddish) which goes something like this: 1) A foolish person; a simpleton. "He has the brains of a shlemile."
[MPG: Rosten very rarely uses the "c" in his "sch" Yiddish words.] 2) A consistently unlucky or unfortunate person; a "fall guy"; a
hard-luck type; a born loser; a submissive and uncomplaining victim.
"That poor shlemile always gets the short end of the stick." A Yiddish
proverb goes: "A shlemile falls on his back and breaks his nose." 3) A clumsy, butterfingered, all-thumbs, gauche type. "Why does a shlemile like that ever try to fix anything?" 4) A social misfit, congenitally maladjusted. "Don't invite that shlemile to the party." 5) A pipsqueak, a Caspar Milquetoast. "He throws as much weight as a shlemile." "No one pays attention to that shlemile." 6) A naive, trusting, gullible customer. The usage is common among
furniture dealers, especially those who sell the gaudy, gimcrack stuff
called "borax." 7) Anyone who makes a foolish bargain, or wagers a foolish bet. This usage is wide in Europe; it probably comes from Chamisso's tale Peter Schlemihl's Wunderbare Geschichte, a fable in which the
protagonist sold his shadow and, like Faust, sold his soul to Satan. Unfortunately Ross' commentary is little more than boilerplate. So much for lists.
