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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Come back to me

Veteran olim are aware that with a little bit of luck, you can find Heblish wherever you look.

For instance, not too long ago, I called a certain office - only to discover that they were closed.

But not to worry.

They had voice mail.

With a message in two (2) languages, no less.

And that’s not all.

Because to my delight – but to the detriment of the office’s professional reputation – the employee who recorded the message was not QUITE as proficient in English as s/he may have thought.

In fact, I would classify him/her as one of those Israelis who mistakenly believe that they’re speaking English when they’re actually speaking Heblish instead.

Here’s why:

The Hebrew part of the message came first, and then the English instructed:

“Please leave a message, and we will come back to you.”

And, thus, the nameless employee behind the voice earned his/her 15 minutes of fame as the unwitting neologist who coined the newest Our Shiputzim Heblish-English Dictionary entry:

Come back to you: Hebrew source נחזור אליך. English definition – Get back to you. Sample usage – See above.

Well done, Nameless Employee!

smile_teeth

7 comments:

  1. Yaakov once had someone he worked with whose voice mail message in English was "You have reached to Shmulik's phone..." ("latelefon shel...")

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  2. Malke - LOL! :-)

    Toby - Thanks!

    Chag samei'ach!

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  3. I called an Israeli cousin who told me to leave a message "after the honking." Took me a minute to figure out he mean tziftzuf.

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  4. Miriyummy - Awesome! It gives a whole new meaning to "talking on the phone while driving"... :-)

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  5. I enjoy your "heblish" posts--have a new one for you. "at so-and-so", e.g., "the book is at me". Translation, I have the book. My girls say this all the time.

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  6. Sarah - הספר אצלי - Excellent! :-)
    Shabbat Shalom and choref tov!

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