# How do you say "chickenshit" in Hebrew? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 30, 2014, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960 "2014-10-30T03:04:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/1 "2014-10-30T03:04:45Z")
See subject. I suspect the word will enter the Hebrew lexicon now as a loan word, but how is the press translating it? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/2 "2014-10-30T03:24:29Z")
And, does it have the analogical meaning in Hebrew that it has in US English? Or does it just refer to chickens’ excrement? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/3 "2014-10-30T04:00:20Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > See subject. I suspect the word will enter the Hebrew lexicon now as a loan word, Why do you suspect that? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/4 "2014-10-30T04:30:39Z")
Probably because of the Hebrew loan word “boolsheet.” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/5 "2014-10-30T05:20:46Z")
There’s actually a major debate in the Israeli media about this - some are saying it means “little shit”, while others claim it means “\*cowardly \*little shit”. Until it’s resolved, they’re simply repeating the word phonetically. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/6 "2014-10-30T06:03:25Z")
“Netanyahu”? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/7 "2014-10-30T06:54:01Z")
**Moderator Note** > [@TSBG](#): > > “Netanyahu”? Let’s keep the political jabs out of GQ, please. No warning issued. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/8 "2014-10-30T13:36:12Z")
[It’s in the news](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/29/us-mideast-israel-usa-idUSKBN0II1M120141029), **ECG**. > [@](#): > > An anonymous U.S. official’s reported description of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “chickenshit”, or worthless coward, drew a sharp response on Wednesday from the Israeli leader - no stranger to acrimony with the Obama administration. > > The American broadside, in an interview in The Atlantic magazine, followed a month of heated exchanges between the Netanyahu government and Washington over settlement-building in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, which Palestinians seek as the capital of a future state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. > > "The thing about Bibi is, he’s a chickenshit,” the unidentified official was quoted as saying, using Netanyahu’s nickname and a slang insult certain to redden the ears of the U.S.-educated former commando. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/9 "2014-10-30T14:12:25Z")
I think the word is “schmaltz”. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/10 "2014-10-30T14:24:35Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > **Moderator Note** > > Let’s keep the political jabs out of GQ, please. > > No warning issued. It’s not a political jab. The news story that provoked the OP is that someone in the US administration called Netanyahu a “chicken shit”. ETA: **Elvis** beat me to it, and with the appropriate quote. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/11 "2014-10-30T21:01:37Z")
Yes, I thought that would be okay given the reason for the question. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/12 "2014-10-31T05:18:39Z")
They’d probably use Yiddish, not Hebrew, for “chickenshit”. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/13 "2014-10-31T14:48:09Z")
What would it be in Yiddish? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/14 "2014-10-31T14:58:19Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > It’s not a political jab. The news story that provoked the OP is that someone in the US administration called Netanyahu a “chicken shit”. > > ETA: **Elvis** beat me to it, and with the appropriate quote. **Moderating** The original comment in the news was a political jab against Netanyahu. Simply repeating it, without context or explanation, is also a political jab. If you wish to discuss this further, take it to ATMB, where there is a thread on it. This thread is about the translation of the word “chickenshit,” not whether the word applies to Netanyahu, or any other aspects of the controversy. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/15 "2014-10-31T15:03:54Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > See subject. I suspect the word will enter the Hebrew lexicon now as a loan word, but how is the press translating it? **Moderator Note** **Leo Bloom** , you often do not give sufficient context for your questions. Don’t assume that everyone has read the same news articles you have. Please give more thought to how you frame your questions here. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/16 "2014-10-31T15:12:49Z")
Anyway… because of its unique history as a liturgical language revived for day-to-day use, modern Hebrew doesn’t have much “organic” profanity, and Hebrew speakers are happy to adapt dirty words and phrases from Yiddish, Arabic, Russian, English and other languages. Only time will tell if “chickenshit” is adopted the same way as “shit” and “bullshit” were ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/17 "2014-10-31T15:35:18Z")
🙂 **Colibri** , of course I take your point, if only to forestall the brief **e\_c\_g** mod note and responses–which is–correct me if I’m wrong–merely a mod-whoosh. The unknowingness of whether the one word reply “Netanyahu” was a quick, knowing “that’s what this OP is about,”/I see what you’re doing there, or an agreement by restatement with the jab, is kind of interesting. Indeed, as we all know, the OP is just fine freestanding at any old time–except for that damn Netanyahu response, _et seq_. Would make for a nice analytical discussion of the more academic type on ATMB. I also take your point about my OP-posting/writing habits, which sometimes can be annoying or cumbersome in the end. > [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > They’d probably use Yiddish, not Hebrew, for “chickenshit”. Which would leave them exactly where they were before, asking the OP question. Which they did. The number of Yiddish speakers in Israel is minuscule; it is barely an exaggeration that more Blacks people in NYC and are familiar with Yiddish words and nuances than any Israeli. Over half of the Israeli population are from (most expelled) Moslem-ruled lands; the rest of the non-Western-religous secular not only don’t know Yiddish, but in general reserve a particular contempt for it dating from the earliest political Zionism–the language of exile (like all the Jewish languages–Ladino, etc. except the Zionists were a Western bunch). Now, even more so, that it continues to be used as well by a small but politically powerful segment of the population further isolates it. [Addendum: In the main, it is worth noting how the idea of “European/Holocaust” so colors the discussion of the politics of Israel to the complete ignorance of the actual polity.] ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/18 "2014-10-31T16:07:57Z")
“An anonymous U.S. official’s reported description of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “chickenshit”, or worthless coward…” Do words have no meaning anymore? Just because it has the word chicken in it does not mean it has anything to do with cowardice. “Chickenshit is so called - instead of horse- or bull- or elephant shit - because it is small-minded and ignoble and takes the trivial seriously.” Stephen Ambrose ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/19 "2014-10-31T16:26:49Z")
That’s a part of this story I find fascinating. I think people are reading “chickenshit” as coward because the anonymous official was also talking about Netanyahu refusing to go to war (though that makes very little sense in the overall narrative of the Obama Administration’s critique). What makes a whole lot more sense is the actual idiomatic meaning of the word, as something like petty. Their complaint is that Netanyahu is more focused on political success and minor battles than the big picture of getting something done on peace. In that context, the original meaning of the insult seems to make perfect sense. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960/20 "2014-10-31T19:20:44Z")
According to Google Translate, chickenshit becomes: Yiddish: טשיקקענשיט Hebrew: פדנט I don’t know if this helps anyone, as it doesn’t actually tell us how to “say” it. Well, not me anyway. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-say-chickenshit-in-hebrew/702960.md?page=2)