Glossary

Glossary

(ノ^^)ノ

Text emoticon. Woohoo! (Characters represent a person with their arms up and to the right.)

ヽ(ಠಠ)ノ

Text emoticon. Frustrated (Characters represent a person with their arms up to either side, with a furrowed brow and eyes.)

Abba

Hebrew. Daddy / Dad

Ahuvi

Hebrew. My beloved. (Said from a woman to a man)

Ahuva

Hebrew. “My beloved”, said from a man to a woman.

Al tezayen li et hasechel

Hebrew. “Don’t fuck with my mind” Alt: “Don’t bullshit me”.

Ami

Hebrew. Mommy / Mom

Arkeret bayit

Hebrew. Housewife.

As-salaam ‘alaykum

Arabic. “Peace be unto you”, a traditional greeting.

Ben zona

Hebrew. Son of a bitch. Lit. Son of a whore.

Beshert

Hebrew. Soulmate. Broadly speaking, any fortuitous event, but most usually applied to one’s destined love partner. Also has the association that finding or achieving that love may take hard work.

Bgadim hadashim

Hebrew. New clothes.

Bos

Hebrew. Boss.

Freier

Hebrew A sucker. In Israel, an almost pathological compulsion to never be on the losing side of anything: “don’t be a freier”.

Fugee

English, slang. Refugee

Goy

Hebrew. A non-Jew or gentile. Often, but not always, seen as disparaging. Lit. nation.

GTG

Texting acronym. Got To Go / Good To Go

Hakol bifnim

Hebrew. “With everything” / “Fully loaded”

HaShem

Hebrew. Lit “The Name”; used by observant Jews to avoid saying the holy names of God, while still referencing the deity.

Insh’allah

Arabic. “God willing”.

Jihad

Arabic. Lit. Struggle. A battle for a righteous cause; today, most commonly associated with a fight against the perceived enemies of Islam. Jihadi is used for individual fighters or militants.

Kaffir

Arabic. An unbeliever or disbeliever in Islam.

Keffiyeh

Arabic. AKA shemagh. A square scarf worn as a male headdress or necktie in many Arabic countries. Typically cotton, with a printed or dyed pattern.

Khallas

Arabic. Stop / enough.

Klezmer

Hebrew. Lit “vessels of song”. The traditional instrumental music associated with Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe; often featuring expressive dance tunes for celebrations, with melodies that resemble the human voice.

Knafeh

Cheese pastry soaked in sweet, sugar-based syrup

L’chaim

Hebrew. Lit. “to life”. “Cheers”

La tadhkuruha

Arabic. Don’t mention it.

Lehit

Hebrew. Contraction of Lehitra’ot: “goodbye for now”, with a less formal interpretation; close to “See ya!”.