The interview went up ahead of Gadot's cover on Vanity Fair's November issue.
By TAMAR URIEL-BEERIGAL GADOT at the May premiere of ‘Wonder Woman,’ in Los Angeles. Does Israel really need hasbara? (photo credit: REUTERS)Gal Gadot, the Israeli superstar of films best known for playing Wonder Woman, appeared in an interview with Vanity Fair on Tuesday, which is now trending on YouTube, where she teaches viewers Hebrew slang.Comically presenting the difference in meanings between Hebrew and English, Gadot went through the typical slang-teaching format common to Vanity Fair's videos and held up a tablet where the slang words are written in Hebrew and spelled out phonetically in English, followed by a direct translation and an explanation of their usage.The interview went up ahead of Gadot's cover on Vanity Fair's November issue.She began by teaching one of the most commonly-used Hebrew slang words: achi, which means "my brother" or "bro.""What's up, achi?" she said, demonstrating its use.Next, Gadot taught para para. "Para para means, 'cow cow,'" she said. "It's basically when you go and you do something, you do it "para para." You do it slowly but surely, one step at a time."After that came bli ayin hara. "Bli ayin hara in English means 'no evil eye,' and that's basically what it means against evil eye," she said. Gadot then followed up by showing the common superstitious tfu that oftentimes comes after the expression.The next expression was chavlaz, short for chaval al hazman."It means 'waste of time,' but in a good way," she said. "When something is chavlaz... it's like you won't believe how incredible this thing is."
"Try to say it with me: Pa'amshlishit glida," Gadot began, moving onto the next expression whilst giggling, as the term translates to "third time ice cream.""It basically means third time's the charm," she explained.The next expression is tachlis, meaning, "'Okay, what's the bottom line, let's cut to the chase,'" Gadot explained.Gadot smiled broadly when she read out yalla. "Yalla is a word that Israelis use all the time," she stated. "It basically means, 'let's go, let's do it...' Everyone who works with me heard me say yalla 20 times at least."The next word was "an easy one" – eysh, which means fire. "Just like in English and American slang," she said.Next was "'Ma ani, ez?' means 'What am I, a goat?'" Gadot translated the expression. "Basically, 'what am I, a dummy dumb? I'm not stupid!'""Mah pitom would mean in English, 'What all of a sudden!'" Gadot said about the next slang phras. "Mah pitom in Hebrew means, 'no way. What are you talking about?'"The next expression was shtuyot bemitz, which Gadot translated as "crap in juice.""It's like, 'it's BS, it's nonsense,'" she explained simply.The next one was oress, literally “destroys.”
"When something is oress, it means it's amazing," she said. "It's unbelievable, it's oress. Usually we say, 'oress et habriyut,' which means, 'kills the health.' It's amazing!""I hope I'm being a good teacher here," she added nervously.The next slang expression was rosh kroov, which means "cabbage-head." Gadot explained that "we don't use it anymore. It's an old-school term for someone who is not so smart, maybe stupid."Gadot concluded the interview by telling the viewers about her favorite Hebrew slang, which did not appear on the tablet: afa alaich or afa aleicha, depending on gender – the first to a male, the second to a female. The literal translation is "fly on you." As she explained what the expression means, a message on the screen spelling it out appeared, but the Hebrew was backwards."When you say afa alaich, it means, 'I love you so much' or 'I adore you so much.'"
