Heblish: Around the Dinner Table Edition

For many bloggers, conversations held around the dinner table frequently serve as an excellent source of blog fodder.

But when the blogger in question is an Anglo with an inexplicable need to chronicle her family’s Heblishisms, these discussions are like finding the mother lode.

Take, for instance, the Shiputzim family’s recent suppertime debate about school uniforms, which produced this gem:

• Go with it: Hebrew source – ללכת עם זה. English definition – Wear it in public. Sample usage - “If my school has a uniform next year, there’s no way I’m going to go with it.”

Or how about these two family favorites:

• To fall in the hagralah: Hebrew source – ליפול בהגרלה.  English definition – To be chosen in a lottery. Sample usage – “I got to go first, because I fell in the hagralah.”
• Maximum: Hebrew source – מקסימום. English definition – At most; worst case. Sample usage - “Maximum, I’ll take the test again on mo’ed bet.”

And finally, we have the following, which veteran Israelis will no doubt recognize as the inverse of the classic new oleh mistakes “lakachat miklachat” and “lakachat mivchan” [sic]:

• Make a break: Hebrew source – לעשות הפסקה. English definition – Take a break. Sample usage - “I got tired from all this studying, and so I made a break for five minutes.”

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Previous Heblish editions are available here: Heblish I, Heblish II, Heblish III, Heblish IV, Heblish V, Heblish VI, Heblish VII, Heblish VIII, Heblish IX, and Heblish X.