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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Comments

3 responses to “Typical Israeli supermarket conversation.”

  1. rsheffer Avatar

    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 Avatar

    This was included in the current edition of Haveil Havalim.

  3. SuperRaizy Avatar

    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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