A
Arkia: El Al’s little brother, flying passengers between Tel Aviv and Eilat. Where security consists of asking you what your favorite ice
cream flavor is.
Arsim: like the guys on “Jersey Shore” if they were Jewish.
B
Bahngee: what 12.4% of Israelis call me, typically when they’re
reading my name.
Bamba and Bissli: popular snack foods in Israel
Ba-ruuuuur!: “Duh!” with more rayshes.
Ben-Gay: What my pay stub once listed as my name.
B’ima sheli: Something like “For the love of G-d”? “Holy crap!” Literally “in my mother”.
B’seder: “OK”. One of the more popular words in the Hebrew language. Can answer almost any question. “How are you?” B’seder. “How was the restaurant?” B’seder. “You’re getting married in 3 hours, how are you?” Often preceded by “yiyeh”.
B’tayavon: “Bon appétit.” Often said at the beginning of meals. I love this word.
C
Café hafuch: What we drink 47,000 times a day. Along with chumus, what makes the world go round.
Chumus: Delicious goodness. Cause of international strife.
D
Dood: Hot water heater to warm up your shower. Not to be confused with Jeffrey Lebowski.
E
Ehhhhhhhhh: How can I explain this one. Well…it’s….ehhhhhhh……….
F
Falafel: Good stuff.
G
Galgalatz: National radio station with normal playlist (if you consider Kanye West, Carly Simon, and Tipex “normal”.)
Gever gever: an Israeli manly man. I will never be one of these.
I
Ichilov: hospital in Tel Aviv. I only included this because it’s a hospital with “Ichi” in it.
Iriya: Municipality/city hall. Where hell meets earth.
Israeli wedding: Good reason to wear a dragon shirt
K
Kumkum: Electric kettle and most important part of the Israeli kitchen. Why no one uses this in America, I’ll never know.
M
Madonna: headset microphone
Matkot: Non-competitive beach game in which two players attempt to hit the ball back and forth as many times as humanly possible. Point unknown.
Mixing: The primary reason Israelis are superhot.
S
Shawarma: Bissli is to bamba as falafel is to shawarma.
T
T-shirt: Where Israelis express themselves with well thought-out messages like “Sex Master”
Ties: I have no idea.
U
Ulpan: Where South Americans and non-Jewish Thai women get together to learn Hebrew.
Y
Yiyeh b’seder: Translated as “it will be ok”, this is the unofficial national slogan of Israel. Can follow any number of statements including “I just lost my job”, “I have to have my foot amputated”, or “we are going to be attacked in approximately seven minutes.”
