Etymology: from Yiddish שלעפּן (“to drag”); from High German schleppen (“to drag”)– “to carry”-

schlepper (plural schleppers)

1) a servant who carries things
2)  a porter
3) a pejorative insult for an individual who wanders aimlessly
4) One who acts in a slovenly, lazy, or sloppy manner. Kind of like the modern idiom of “slacker”.

E.g.- When I put on my ripped jeans and dirty tee-shirt to go to the conference, my wife said, “are you really going to dress like that, you look like a schlepper!”

Rabbi Ben Newman is the founder and spiritual leader of Shtiebel a new paradigm Jewish community in the Rivertowns of Westchester, NY. He is also the author of several children’s books. Learn more here.