Hebrew Slang that Make No Sense

 

La'Asot Chayim ("לעשות חיים"):

Literally translates to 'To make life' and figuratively means 'to have a good time'. I might use it in a sentence to describe a trip we took to Barcelona, without going into much detail.

"We really did "make life" when we were in Barcelona over Christmas break. It was great fun!"

"עשינו חיים בברצלונה בחופשת הכריסמס והיה ממש כיף"

 "Mazeh" as an adverb (מה זה" כתאר הפועל"):

Literally translates to 'What is this?' and figuratively means 'extremely' or 'Uber'.  I might use it in a sentence to describe something that was extreme.

"It was 'What is this' cold outside- so cold that I had to wear two pairs of pants and three pairs of socks!"

"היה 'מה זה' קר בחוץ - כל כך קר שהייתי צריך ללבוש שני זוגות מכנסים ושלוש זוגות גרביים"

 Lo Normali ("לא נורמלי"):

Literally translates to 'Not normal' but figuratively means 'amazing'.  I might use it in a sentence to describe a friend of mine who's so dedicated to surfing that he wakes up at 5am every day to catch the best waves.

"Dude, you're 'not normal'." 

"'אחי, אתה 'לא נורמלי"

  

 Al Ha' Panim ("על הפנים"):

 Literally translates to 'On the face' and figuratively means 'terrible'.  I might use it in a sentence to describe a bad movie or a bad restaurant in the following way:

"This movie/restaurant/night club was 'On the face'."

"'הסרט\מסעדה\מועדון היה 'על הפנים'"

 La Panim ("לפנים"): 

Literally translates to 'To the face' and figuratively means 'awesome'. I might use it in a sentence to describe an awesome movie or awesome restaurant in the following way:

"This movie/restaurant/night club was 'To the face'."

"'הסרט\מסעדה\מועדון היה 'לפנים'"

 La Gabot ("לגבות"):

Literally translates to 'To the eyebrows' , and like 'La Panim' figuratively means 'awesome.' I like this one more than 'La Panim' just because it's a slang phrase that has eyebrows in it..and who else uses eyebrows in slang!? I mean, I barely ever say "eyebrows" in English. Brows, maybe, but eyebrows?

 Le'Echol S'ratim ("לאכול סרטים"):

Literally translates to 'Eating movies' and it means 'loves drama' or 'is a drama queen' or 'is a bit nuts' or 'thinks there's an issue where there is none'.  I might use this to describe a female friend who is driving me nuts with her drama:

"She won't stop 'feeding me movies'."

"הוא\היא לא מפסיקה להאכיל אותי סרטים"

Sof Ha'Derech ("סוף הדרך"):

Literally translates to 'End of the road' and it means 'awesome' or 'fantastic'. I might use this to describe a successful party or event.

"Ron and Tali's wedding was 'End of the road'."

"החתונה של רון וטלי היתה סוף הדרך"

 Kapara Alecha ("כפרה עליך"):

Literally translates to 'Atonement over you' and figuratively means' darling' or 'loved one'. The word Kapara, actually refers to an old ritual carried out in orthodox Jewish Custom during Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, when villagers take a chicken and swing it over their heads while reciting the following prayer: "This is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my atonement. This chicken will go to its death while I will enter and proceed to a good long life, and peace." Then the chicken is slaughtered and it (or its cash value) is given to the poor.

I might use this to address my friend after they did a wonderful favor by saying:

"John, 'Atonement over you'. I can't believe you such a wonderful favor for me!"

"גון, כפרה עליך, אני לא מאמין שעשית את כל זה בשבילי"

Chaval Al Ha'Zman ("חבל על הזמן"):

Literally means 'A pity on the time' and can be used to literally mean 'a waste of time' or 'not worthwhile.' However, when you use it in slang, it means 'totally awesome.' I've always found 'Haval al ha zman' to be one of the more intriguing Israeli slang phrases because of the fact that it means two entirely different things depending on the way its said and the way you use it.