A Broch:
pronounced, ah-BROOKH
This is a curse, a plague. Like "Damn it!" but more so. A broch is a way of expressing disgust, misery, disaster. If a guy wants to tell you he's miserable, he's nauseated, he's overwhelmed, he's disgusted, he's at his wit's end, he's heard the end of it, he wants to give up, he wants to run away, he wants to get out of town, he wants to destroy himself, it's all over, there's no end in sight, there's no way to get out of it, all of this can be said in one phrase, “Oy, a broch.”
A gentile would have to find five thousand ways of letting you know how he's feeling. A Jew just says “Oy, a broch,” and you know that this guy can't take anymore and you'd better get out of his way. Because the next thing is murder.
And a broch can range from the tailor fixing your pants too short to the death of a relative. It's an all-purpose word.
