chatchki origins
Dear Word Detective: What it the origin of the word “chatchki”? I suspect it's Yiddish, but I'm not sure. It means something like “trinket” or “small decorative item” or even “junk.” My family in New York uses this word frequently, but recently someone asked me about it because they'd never heard it before. – Cara Anthony, Boston, MA.
The word you're looking for is actually “tchotchke,” and while your friends may never have heard of the word, I'll bet they own a ton of tchotchkies (the plural of tchotchke).
Tchotchke (usually pronounced “CHOCH-kah”) is indeed a Yiddish word, meaning “trinket or toy,” and comes from a Slavic word meaning “to play pranks.” Tchotchke (also spelled “tsatske”) can sometimes mean a small gift or reward, an inconsequential person or even a pretty girl.
“Tchotchke” didn't appear in English literature until 1964, but we can assume that it was in common oral use long before that date. While the original meaning of “tchotchke” was “trinket,” today the word is usually applied to small decorative or whimsical items that usually are meant to be displayed on a shelf or mantle.
Tchotchkies seem to be a hazard of modern life, and it's impossible to avoid acquiring them. A few years ago I was living in a tiny apartment in New York City, the sort of place where you have to stand outside the kitchen to open the refrigerator. When the finally time came to move out, I began to clear off my bookshelves and discovered that I had somehow managed to acquire four mechanical cows, a small rubber walrus, a rubber cat, several decorative carved African letter openers, two plastic lobsters, a half-dozen dysfunctional clocks, an extensive collection of gargoyle figurines, and a small plastic toaster which, when wound, marches across your desk waving slices of toast and rolling its eyes. Tell me about tchotchkies. I don't remember actually buying any of those things, by the way.