We love using ראשי תיבות – acronyms – in modern Hebrew. We take the initials and between the last two letters we add inverted commas (two apostrophes) to show that it’s an acronym rather than an ordinary word. Host Guy Sharett explains that the transformation from word to acronym is so extreme that some words even end up changing their gender!

New Words and Expressions:

Drishat shalom chama – דְּרִישַׁת שָׁלוֹם חַמָה

Timsor drishat shalom la-mishpacha – תִּמְסוֹר דְּרִישַׁת שָׁלוֹם לַמִשְׁפָּחָה

Moser dash – מוֹסֵר דַּ”ש

Moser dash la-chaverim – מוֹסֵר דַּ”ש לַחֲבֵרִים

Timsor/timseri/timseroo le-Chayim dash – תִּמְסוֹר/תִּמְסְרִי/תִּמְסְרוּ לְחַיִים דָּ”ש

Halevay ve-ha-sofash ha-ze lo yigamer af paam – הַלְוַואי וְהַסּוֹפָ”ש הַזֶּה לֹא יִיגַמֵר אַף פַּעַם

Dash ham – דַּ”ש חַם

Sofash, sof shavu’a – סוֹפָ”ש, סוֹף שָבוּעַ

Sof ha-shavu’a – סוֹף הַשַבוּעַ

She-yihye achla sofash – שֶיִּהְיֶה אַחְלָה סוֹפָ”ש

Galey tsahal – גָּלֵי צַהַ”ל

Tsahal, tsva ha-hagana leisrael – צַהַ”ל, צְבַא הָהַגּנָה לְיִשְרָאֵל

Tsava – צָבָא

Gal, galim, galey – גַּל, גַּלִּים, גַּלֵי

Hu ba-tsava – הוּא בַּצָּבָא

Mankal, menahel klali – מַנְכָּ”ל, מְנָהֵל כְּלָלִי

Samankal, sgan mankal – סַמַנְכָֹּ”ל, סְגַן מנכ”ל

Samankal ha-chevra – סַמַנְכָֹּ”ל הַחֶבְרָה

Hool – חוּ”ל

Az histovavta lecha be-hool – אָז הִסְתּוֹבַבְתָ לְךָ בְּחוּ”ל

Rosh ha-memshala amar she-hu ba la-oom kedey lehagid et ha’emet – רֹאשׁ הַמֶּמְשָלָה אָמַר שֶׁהוּא בָּא לָאוּ”ם כְּדֵי לְהָגִיד אֶת הָאֶמֶת

Oom, Oomot Me’uchadot – אוּ”ם, אוּמוֹת מְאוּחָדוֹת

Be-derech klal – בְּדֶרֶך כְּלָל, בד”כ

Tel Aviv – ת”א

Playlist and Clips:

Yardena arazi & Lahakat Ha-nachal – Drishat Shalom (Lyrics)
Boaz Shar’abi & Matti Caspi – Shalom Aleychem (Lyrics)
The Ultras – Sofshavu’a (Lyrics)

Want to see more Hebrew gems? Like Streetwise Hebrew on Facebook and Instagram.

Want Guy to talk about a pressing Hebrew issue? Find him at StreetWiseHebrew.com or follow him on Twitter.

4 comments on “Addicted to Acronyms

  1. Jordi Friedman says:

    Hey 🙂 as you can see, acronyms are in all languages. They are used proffesionally and for fun. There is a great site that has all kind of acronyms- useful, funny and proffesional: http://www.abbreviations.com
    Check it out! I hope you enjoy and as much as I do 🙂

  2. Jordi Friedman says:

    You can find more here: http://www.abbreviations.com/acronyms/HEBREW Enjoy!

    1. TLV1 Radio says:

      That’s a great resource page. Thanks Jordi!

    2. M.C. Bronsgeest says:

      thank you veru much, Jordy

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