Typical Israeli supermarket conversation.

Russian man with silver teeth: grumbles something in heavy accented Hebrew (or maybe it was Russian?) and points to a package of frozen dough

Me: “Slicha?”

Russian man with silver teeth: grumbles something else in Hebrew, pointing to the price

Me: looking confused

Russian man with silver teeth: smiles big, “Aaah…. Priveyet, russian russian russian russian russian…”

Me: smiles back, “Lo yoda’at…”

Russian man with silver teeth: now he’s looking confused, grumbles again in Russian accented Hebrew

Me: explains what he needed to know in American accented Hebrew; unfortunately for him, the price is not to his liking.

Russian man with silver teeth: walks away grumbling, “Nyet! Nyet! Nyet!”

And there we have it, once again. Russians assume I am Russian. It has happened probably a dozen times now. If only I could understand what that means

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3 Responses to Typical Israeli supermarket conversation.

  1. rsheffer says:

    yeah that rings a bell… started to think I must look Russian,maybe it’s just if you look Ashkenazi you get that…happened to me a few times.

  2. Jack says:

    This was included in the current edition of Haveil Havalim.

  3. SuperRaizy says:

    This happens to me all the time in New York. For some reason, Russian men seem to love me. (I think it’s because I’m, ahem, pleasingly plump.)

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