One of your friends or colleagues is talking your ear off – blabbering, nagging, or over analyzing. In Hebrew, you would kindly ask that person to stop being a ‘hafran,’ or literally, ‘digger.’ Guy explains how and when to use this illustrative slang.

Words and expressions discussed:

Hofer – Digging, excavating – חופר

Lahpor (lahfor) – To dig – לחפור

Lahfor bor – To dig a hole – לחפור בור

Orly lo mafsika lahfor li – Orly does not stop “lahfor” in my ear – אורלי לא מפסיקה לחפור לי

Tagidu la, giveret, at hoferet, kol ha-zman medaberet – Tell her, lady, you’re “hoferet”, you’re speaking all the time – תגידו לה, גברת, את חופרת

Ma ata hofer? – Why are you “hofer”? – ?מה אתה חופר

Dai lahfor – enough digging – די לחפור

Dai lahfor li – Stop digging in my ear – די לחפור לי

Hafarti? – Did I talk too much? – ?חפרתי

Hafira, hafirot – Excavation, digging – חפירה, חפירות

Hafira archi’ologit – Archaeological excavation – חפירה ארכיאולוגית

Hafran, hafranit – A blabber – חפרן, חפרנית

Hafrawi – Hafran – חפראווי

Hafarperet – Mole, double agent – חפרפרת

Music:

E-Z – Kolboinikit (lyrics)
Shai Yom Tov – At Hoferet
Archaeology in Jerusalem
Yeled hafran (kid’s monologue)

 

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5 comments on “You’re Digging My Ear off!

  1. Ken brandis says:

    Patron, not patreon.

    1. TLV1 Radio says:

      The platform is actually called Patreon and the address is http://www.patreon.com

  2. Scott says:

    You talked about pronouncing לחפור with an “f” sound. I was just watching last night’s גב האומה and in one episode I heard להתפלח and אפיפיור where the speakers both changed the “p” to “f.” What is going on there? Soon you will have no P’s at all, like Arabic!

    1. Ido says:

      Scott, להתפלח is slang and is actually pronounced with an “f”. אַפִּיפְיוֹר on the other hand should be pronounced with a “p” at the beginning and an “f” at the middle of the word but many find it hard to pronounce and of corse there are those who don’t know and those who don’t care.

  3. Guy Sharett says:

    These are foreign words, so don’t worry, we don’t lose our p’s as yet.

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