So I'm in the office yesterday talking to one of my tour guides about an upcoming trip.
Me: "So since it's Hanukkah and all the chanukiot will be lit, it would be great if you could lead a walking tour of Nachlaot (cool Jerusalem neighborhood). Do you think you can do it?"
Guide: "Yeah, absolutely."
Me: "Achla! (awesome)
(pause) Or should I say 'nachla'? " (overcome by proud, goofy grin)
Co-worker in next cube laughs.
Thank you, folks! Try the shnitzel....
19 comments:
I laughed too. Is this your first Hebrew joke?
At least yours was thought out and makes (funny) sense.
I make bloopers after 15 years here that make me want to cringe. I still have to think before I make a gaff that I've made 50 times before, e.g. shipud (meat on the spit) and shiputz (renovations).
OH, I know why... I married in English and I work in English. May that be a lesson.
If not the first, one I'm pretty proud of. Can't ever use it again spontaneously.
What's the lesson...to marry in Amharit?
The link in the post tends to not work somtimes, due to some bad hosting solution. In case the normal msn asx file is down, try connecting directly to the stream found here:
mms://213.8.138.13/glz-stream
You can either open it in your browser, or better yet directly in your favourite media player (ctrl +u if you are using windows media player)
None shall miss it!
-Itamar
The lesson is that if you are speaking Heeenglish at home and at work, you're doomed to advance linguistically at a slower rate than those who have have Sabra spouses/friends. Israelis correct all your Hebrew mistakes, Anglos do not. Gotta get me one (a Sabra friend), I already have a husband. ~sigh~ I'll mess up tzoek and tzochek forever!!
If you marry in Amharit, you'll be "duo lashon" in a year :o)
Having a Hebrew speaking spouse will not help you learn Hebrew if speak English at home and work. Not even in 40 years - and I have a very good example of this in my family.
So you gotta get out there, get your feet wet and do your "Fadichot".
I had major mistakes when we moved to America when I was little, but I guess that was cute.
And I hated Israelies correcting my mistakes when I came back. That's just so annoying!!!
thats a good one benji! i laughed.
WOW--How cool to be joking b'ivrit without even thinking about it! Means your "assimilation" is working....I have been thinking lately also about how I don't "translate" to English when I am thinking in Hebrew- I thought about that while singing Nomi Shemer songs in the car--some are very linguistically complicated- I learned all of my Hebrew from songs when I was little and in Habonim--so try that--it helps!--MS
I just heard you
You were great and your Ivrit is excelent!
I agree with Mia and Yiye Be'Seder! ;)
apparently, you know you have mastered a language when you can make a joke in that language.
So.
have you started to do your comedy entirely in Hebrew yet?
Well, I work in a Hebrew environment but they all know English and I know they know English and they know that I know that....you get the picture. So anybody want to set me up with an Ethiopian girl?
No comedy in Hebrew yet.....maybe some day.
reminds me of a word that a friend of mind coined:
"Sababa" + "achla" = "Sabachla"
"Sabachla" sounds like one of those salatim you would eat with a pita
Good call, Mia. That's funny, Daniel, my friend came up with the same combination but called it "achlaba."
So if a man has incest with his daughter and they have a child, he would be both that child's grandfather and father, and so he is Sababa.
"Saba" + "aba" = "Sababa"
That comment either ruled or was very disturbing.
I can recall my first joke in Hebrew: we were driving past the big Bank Hapoalim on Yafo st. and as was friend was about to translate the name for me, I said:
"I know. The Verbs' Bank".
(okay, not that great once written. But it still cracks me up.)
One of my biggest fears about making aliyah is that i'll never be as funny or punny in Hebrew as I like to think I am in english.
The one joke I do have involves imitating British Hebrew speakers and the way that they pronounce "Tel Aviv" and "Kotel." Next time you're with a brit (or south african or aussie) ask them "what's the one coastal city in the mercaz called... I just can't remember the name!" and you'll see what I mean. Same goes for that big wall in the old city in Jerusalem. :)
Now that's Nachla!
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