It’s time to get OFF THE SCHNEID.
What is OFF THE SCHNEID? It’s a figure of speech that means to end a losing streak — to stop a long run of negatives with a positive.
To understand how one gets OFF THE SCHNEID, one has to understand what “the schneid” is. Here is a definition from the smart folks at www.word-detective.com.
To be “on the schneid” means to be on a losing streak, racking up a series of losing, and especially scoreless, games. “Schneid” is actually short for “schneider,” a term originally used in the card game of gin, meaning to prevent an opponent from scoring any points. “Schneider” entered the vocabulary of gin from German (probably via Yiddish), where it means “tailor.” Apparently the original sense was that if you were “schneidered” in gin you were “cut” (as if by a tailor) from contention in the game. “Schneider” first appeared in the literature of card-playing about 1886, but the shortened form “schneid” used in other sports is probably of fairly recent vintage.
So now you know. It’s time to get OFF THE SCHNEID.
Our family always used this term when fishing…. You were “off the schneid” when you finally caught that first fish after a fair amount of time patiently waiting.
Thanks for helping me prove to my co-workers I’m not making up terms.
Thanks for helping me prove to my co-workers that I’m not making up terms.