English-isms

Speaking of funny translations of English phrases into Hebrew…

What about the time my roommate told me not to “Le’zag’zeg” in the traffic?
And what about the commercial I just heard where the guy said “Ani lo mevin klum…tess-em-ess li” (literally “I don’t understand anything…send me an SMS).

Keeps me on my toes.

This entry was posted on 25 November, 2007 at 4:33 pm and is filed under Hebrew Expressions Based on Other Languages. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “English-isms”

  1. Ethan Says:
    25 November, 2007 at 7:24 pm

    I’m sure that would have been Te-Sa-Mess Li… Like many nouns, this turned into a verb as well. And I don’t think it’s any different that “text me” or “email me”. So the only possible issue could be with the fact that the Hebrew word for SMS - Misron (literally: little message), is not commonly used.

  2. eliesheva Says:
    26 November, 2007 at 8:16 am

    by the way, we must not forget to l’hadnees.

  3. NG Says:
    26 November, 2007 at 9:31 am

    I think I once heard “emiliar” used as a verb in Spanish.

  4. Nili Says:
    1 December, 2007 at 1:31 pm

    Also a winner is the new slang l’condel meaning to do nothing and derived from Condoleeza Rice. I wish I could make this stuff up!

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