question for the LJ pool of collective knowledge

[timepiececlock]

What does "mensch" mean?

Take this example:

"I’d try to help anyway, because we have history. Not all of it good, but history. And I guess I’m in no position: glass house, kettle, stones, sin? And I have to admit, he’s become a mensch. Not a man, but a mensch."
-from Old Blood

Comments

Mensch

[tiashome.livejournal.com]

It's Yiddish and means "a good person", I think.

Re: Mensch

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Thanks. It just seems like slang I've seen in fanfic and LJ that I'd never seen anywhere else.

Re: Mensch

[tiashome.livejournal.com]

It just seems like slang I've seen in fanfic and LJ that I'd never seen anywhere else.
I've heard it on various TV shows/movies and I'm sure I've seen it in books I've read, but I can't remember exactly which ones.

Re: Mensch

[elz.livejournal.com]

It just seems like slang I've seen in fanfic and LJ that I'd never seen anywhere else.

Clearly a sign that you're not from New York, where little bits of Yiddish inevitably creep into your vocabulary. ;)

Re: Mensch

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

nope. As New York is a coastal city and San Jose is a coastal city, I'm probably about as far from New York as I can be and still reside on the continental US.