Hello all

This week in Israel, although it is only August, the heat has subsided (don't worry, it is due to return and with strength)! And even though it is hard to believe, it is really nice to be able to stroll along the streets of our country. If I am permitted to be proud of our beautiful city for a moment, since the renovations Rechov Yafo has been transformed into one of the most inviting and bustling streets in the day and at night. It is a lot of fun to go out, with the night breeze, to stroll in the streets of central Jerusalem, to stop for coffee in a quaint coffee shop and to have fun here where there are no more fumes from buses to destroy your lovely burekkas (incidentally- highly recommended). This is really fun, it is really something something. 

משהו – משהו: Something something!

I know that in translating to English this does not sound good, but if you want to be in Israel and sound Israeli, this is how Israelis talk. It happens a lot that we repeat the same word twice in order to emphasize the point like "this is a really true statement". 

And to give some examples:

אח שלי הוא גבר-גבר, הבורקס ב"אמא" הוא לא סתם בורקס, הוא בורקס – בורקס! חכה, לאן אתה ממהר? לאט- לאט!

My brother is a gever- gever, a manly man. The burekkas at "Ima" are not just burekkas, they are burekkas burekkas! Wait, where are you hurrying to? Slowly Slowly!

Indeed it does sound very Israeli to speak like this, with repeated words, but to be clear, this is not just an Israeli thing; it is also a phenomenon evident in the past, as far back as the bible and also in the Talmud. This phenomenon to repeat words is apparent also in the slang of many other languages such as English: "easy-easy", Arabic: "Shwaye-shwaye" and many more examples in other languages. From these languages then it was very easy for it to enter Israeli slang! And so we have not totally invented this phenomenon but have warmly embraced it opening up a wealth of possibilities and opportunities for usage. 

And here we come to the end of this blog,

סוף- סוף Finally!