A 'klutz' is a person who is clumsy, foolish, inept, or accident-prone. The term is perhaps derived from the
Yiddish קלאָץ ''klots'' ('wooden beam'), cognate with the
German ''Klotz'', meaning a "block" or "lump". The British slang, pillock and the Australian slang,
galah are used with similar meaning, particularly in terms of being foolish and inept.
The term klutz has largely permeated into the
English language, even amongst speakers of English with no
Yiddish or indeed
Jewish heritage.
'Klutz' is also a
surname and the name of an
imprint of
Scholastic Press. John Cassidy has used the coincidence of the name of the publisher and the Yiddish word to exploit the title in some of his books, for instance ''Juggling for the Complete Klutz''.
'
Klütz' (English spelling: '"Kluetz"') is a
surname and a town in the
Nordwestmecklenburg district, in
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania,
Germany. It is situated near the
Baltic Sea coast, 22 km northwest of
Wismar, and 33 km northeast of
Lübeck.
'
Troj/Klutz-A' is a
trojan horse that affects
Windows by allowing remote access and stealing personal information, a form of
spyware.
'
Captain Klutz' is a
comic strip superhero parody of
Mad Magazine.