# Origin of "Get off the Schneid"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-off-the-schneid/73738>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 25, 2001, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-off-the-schneid/73738 "2001-07-25T13:57:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-off-the-schneid/73738/1 "2001-07-25T13:57:40Z")

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I was reading the thread about the origin of “It’s ALL Good” and it referenced SportCenter - this reminded me of another phrase I have heard them use - “Get off the Schneid” as in: “Bonds had better get off the Schneid and find his swing if he wants to stay on pace”.

I had never heard it until someone at work used it, then I have heard it a few times since, mostly on ESPN.

So - who (or what) the heck was Schneid and why does someone need to get off of him/her/it to get going on something?

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**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-off-the-schneid/73738/2 "2001-07-25T14:02:14Z")

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And here it is, after 10 seconds on Google:

Posted by Bob on December 12, 2000 at 00:03:22:

In Reply to: Re: Get off the schnied posted by Bruce Kahl on December 11, 2000 at 18:56:35:

: : Wodering of the exact meaning and origin of the term “get off the schnied”. I have heard this used as meaning to move off of dead center or get on the winning track.

: “Schneide” is German for “edge”:

: cutting edge – Schneide  
: edge – die Schneide  
: edge – Kante; Schneide; Rand  
: edged – mit einer Schneide versehen

: I have always taken it to mean the latter–get on the winning track.

in gin rummy, to get “schneidered” is to lose all the hands in a game, and pay double (or some larger-than-usual amount). Thus, if you’ve lost a few hands in a row, and your opponent(s) are in danger of getting to the winning total, you’re delighted to win one hand, to “get off the schneid,” to get any score on the scorepad, so that you minimize the amount you’ll lose. (Naturally, getting off the schneid brings out the eternal optimist, and kindles the hope of overtaking the opposition,)

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**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-off-the-schneid/73738/3 "2001-07-25T18:21:48Z")

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…you’ve got two answers there. Further on the thread you found (a great site by the way), I found this [response](http://www.shu.ac.uk/web-admin/phrases/bulletin_board/6/messages/1188.html):

> [@](#):
>
> But has only marginally to do with “Schneider” (literally: “one, who cuts”) which is the profession of tailor. Theses being very often miserable, poor people led to the definition of someone loosing a card game in a very bad way being called “Schneider”. So “getting of the Schneider” would still mean you are loosing the game, but at least not beyond any hope.  
> (btw. “Schneider” is pronounced as “shnyder”)
> 
> Hope this helps  
> Eckard  
> from Solingen, Germany

This is interesting but I think a little off track with the “tailors are miserable” thing. Here’s what [The Word Detective](http://www.word-detective.com/122099.html) has to say:

> [@](#):
>
> “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.

Finally, [Merriam-Webster](http://www.m-w.com/wftw/99apr/041299.htm) adds:

> [@](#):
>
> In baseball, to schneider is to shut out, and to be off the schneid is to come out of a slump. In German, a schneider is a tailor, someone who cuts cloth. The German schneider made its way into baseball via card games: first skat and schafskopf, and then gin rummy. In all those games, a schneider is a decisive win, a sort of cutting off or shutting out the opposition.

So there you go.