Category: language bites
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What have I done?
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t freaked. Though the truth is it’s only starting to dawn on me how awe-some and terrifying it is. I’m beginning to comprehend what I’ve done. It really is dawning; first the expectation of the rise, and then the initial tips of the rays. Pretty soon I think…
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Pedo-grahams.
I know this is weird, but I realized this weekend that this: …reminds me of this: Too much time on the interknots.
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Two mothers.
My mother is a split personality. As long as I’ve known her, this has been the case. She can speak two languages fluently: her mother tongue, English, a language that rolls off her tongue like rain dripping down a car window in the summer; and Hebrew, a language she has been tripping over since they…
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Whoa, we get the point.
Ok, Hebrew-English dictionary. We get it. You have the definition of קוֹקְסִינֶל: This message is brought to you by: Shira, in association with the Morfix Dictionary or מילון מורפיקס, a Hebrew-English online dictionary that is super-passionate about your translation needs.
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Hebrew vocabulary for new parents (הורים).
I’ll soon be coming on five years of Israelihood, and of course every day I’ve added new academic and obscure Hebrew to my arsenal. But expanding vocabulary is more than just learning new words; it’s about knowing what even the most familiar words mean in new contexts. For instance: being a mom. Here is part of…
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Have a good flight from Discount.
I love the ‘טיסה נעימה’ campaign from Discount Bank in Ben Gurion airport. Here’s a sample: In case Google Translate is off by a word or two (ha!) here’s the gist: New Zealand? Take a right at HaSharon shore, a left in Australia and where all the sheep are – there. If you happen to…
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Birthing in Hebrew.
I always thought when it came to my childbirth experience here in Israel, I’d end up automatically speaking, pleading and moaning in my native tongue. Despite Israeli hospital staff. I figured they probably get that all the time, and who doesn’t speak English in the medical field? Well… it didn’t happen that way. I birthed…
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I need to be schooled.
Today we volunteered at a ‘shuk kach-ten’ – kind of a giant yard sale where you bring junk and take other people’s junk. It was at the elementary school in Tzur Hadassah. It was also the first time I have entered an Israeli school while it was in session. Kids running everywhere. Not unlike my…
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American Pie Pizza. Only, not.
American-style pizza of true cheesy quality is not as easy to find around Jerusalem as you’d think. Big Apple Pizza (which just opened a new branch on Ben Zakai, my old hood) has done a good enough job, but they’ve grown so much you get that American sold-out feeling. If you want a small, colorful…
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So that's what they do with your tonsils…
In case all that talk of crabits made you hungry, how about some tonsil skewers? C’mon, they’re a great source of unnecessariness: Courtesy of Tzidkiyahu, a Talpiot Israeli grill joint I still love even if they serve Tonsils for 72 shekels. Unfortunately, I can’t remember what the Hebrew side of the menu said.
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Beware the crabits in your cards…
Is it passe to make fun of English spelling mistakes on Israeli marketing products? Eh, I still find it amusing and I’m sure one day my kids will make fun of me for the Hebrew mistakes I make in the little notes in their lunchboxes. Anyway, I am offering a public service announcement about what…