Misheard Hebrew lyrics

zaq

Sat, Oct 31 2020, 10:08 pm

So many songs we learned in school or camp we were taught wrong, and I never knew till I got my hands on the real lyrics. Presumably whoever taught them to us misheard or the song sheets had typos. One that sticks in my mind is the song "Mah Avarech." The words are "uverach ki yadav hal'mudot bifrachim yitzlechu gam lilmod et otzmat hapladah." We were taught "yitzlefu" -- 'lehatzlif' means to snipe or slash. The sentence really didn't make sense, but because the word did have a connection to fighting, I chalked it up to poetic license. When I found out the real lyrics, it was like the sun coming out after an overcast day.

lkwdgirl

Sat, Oct 31 2020, 10:52 pm

Frenchfry wrote:

Not Hebrew, but in the song "someday"

Never will we have to express any fears
Our stars and our moons will disappear

This is of my favorite songs. SCARS AND OUT WOUNDS WILL DISAPPEAR Surprised

BH Yom Yom

Sun, Nov 01 2020, 12:53 am

Reminds me of what my friend’s non-Jewish cleaning lady thought the song “anavim, anavim” was - “I love him, I love him”... she always asked my friend to play that song when she would come over to clean.

imanonymous

Sun, Nov 01 2020, 12:58 am

Frenchfry wrote:

Not Hebrew, but in the song "someday"

Never will we have to express any fears
Our stars and our moons will disappear

Or the classic childhood error, "Sunday we will all be together".

shirachadasha

Sun, Nov 01 2020, 1:38 am

BH Yom Yom wrote:

I always wondered how many people thought this was a song about grapes.

Elfrida

Sun, Nov 01 2020, 1:49 am

Iymnok wrote:

Kad katan, kad katan, shmona yamim shel Yonatan
(Try to get it right before Chanukah!)

I always thought that was
'Shmona yamim sham Yonatan'
(Who I imagined was an extra Maccabi, which was why he was there in the first place)

Then the next line,
'Kol ha'am hitpallel'
Since praying would have been a pretty logical thing to do.

I was quite surprised when I actually saw it written down, though it finally made sense. For a gan song, it's a very high level of Hebrew.

etky

Sun, Nov 01 2020, 1:06 am

Elfrida wrote:

So many 'gan songs' were written in very literary Hebrew. It was the genre back then when they were composed. And many holiday songs that kids learn in gan today, or at least hear (in my kids' days it was on cassette tapes for kids) were not really composed for that age group at all; just think of songs like אנו נושאים לפידים, הבה נרימה,נרותי הזעירים, ימי החנוכה
Of course, nothing compares to the linguistic complexity of Ma'oz Tzur which any gan child can rattle off - having no idea what it is even talking about Confused

etky

Sun, Nov 01 2020, 1:28 am

zaq wrote:

Mah Avarech is quite a complicated song to teach to non-Israeli kids.
We also learned it in school (in the US) and honestly, looking back, I'm surprised they even attempted it.

Elfrida

Sun, Nov 01 2020, 1:51 am

etky wrote:

Of course, nothing compares to the linguistic complexity of Ma'oz Tzur which any gan child can rattle off - having no idea what it is even talking about Confused

To be fair, they've got a better general idea than I did when I rattled it off in chutz l'aretz. I remember picking up on a word I thought I knew, and trying to understand what Og, Melech haBashan had to do with Chanukah. After all, there was a reference to 'Az Og Mor'. (...אז אגמור, בשיר מיזמור). Israeli children won't make that mistake.

etky

Sun, Nov 01 2020, 2:18 am

Elfrida wrote:

Well, at least Og is a more 'authentic' (not to say sophisticated Surprised

) association than Egg-More which is probably what the word אגמור evokes for many young English speaking kids who haven't learned Hebrew yet. Laugh

sweetdimples

Sun, Nov 01 2020, 2:27 am

from michoel schnitzlers mimini michoel

"mimini michoel shteit a mameh, imismoili gavriel bagleit a mameh" instead of "malach" loved that song at first because of what I thought was a beautiful mother/angel metaphor, with mommy being present at every moment blah blah, till hub set me straight...no reference to a mommeh, nada. what a downfall

Elfrida

Sun, Nov 01 2020, 2:34 am

etky wrote:

Well, at least Og is a more 'authentic' (not to say sophisticated Surprised

) association than Egg-More which is probably what the word אגמור evokes for many young English speaking kids who haven't learned Hebrew yet. Laugh

I hadn't realized I was so sophisticated! embarrassed

On the theme of Chanukah songs, I remember a few years ago all my nephews and neices disappearing into one room and switching the lights off. When my sister called them back and asked why they had switched the light off, the oldest one stuck his head out of the door, with his best 'adults can be so stupid' expression, and patiently explained, 'We need to close the light so we can be מגרש את החושך!' Then they marched round the room in the dark, singing at the top of their voices. They had no trouble with the words to that one!

salt

Sun, Nov 01 2020, 3:08 am

Lots of chanuka songs are misheard I see.

In the song יונים נקבצו עלי My DD sang (or still sings, at age 10 ...):
instead of:
בני בינה ימי שמונה
she sang:
פנה ימינה פנה שמאלה (turn right, turn left...)
Very Happy