how to say “I’m no pushover” in Hebrew
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אֲנִי לֹא פְרָאיֶיר (פְרָיֶר)
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A more accurate translation of the phrase אֲנִי לֹא פְרָאיֶיר is I’m no sucker, but the word sucker has fallen out of favor, having become somewhat foreign to English speakers in its meaning of someone naive, who easily taken advantage of. We tend to say pushover instead.
is I’m no sucker, but the word sucker has fallen out of favor, having become somewhat foreign to English speakers in its meaning of someone naive, who easily taken advantage of. We tend to say pushover instead.Moreover, the concept of a sucker itself is less important in Western culture than in its Israeli counterpart. As the Hebrew Wikipedia writes, “פראייר is a key concept in Israeli society, and the desire not to be a פראייר is a central motif in the Israeli-sabra experience.”
is a key concept in Israeli society, and the desire not to be a פראייר is a central motif in the Israeli-sabra experience.”
So much so, that when law reforms were made several years ago preventing three cellular carriers in Israel from extorting the public, one of the new companies cashed in – and continues to do so – with the marketing tagline:
מַסְפִּיק לִהְיוֹת פְרָאיֶיר
stop being a pushover (literally, enough being a pushover)
The word פראייר arrived in Modern Hebrew from Yiddish, but it’s not clear where Yiddish picked it up. One theory is that the word comes from the German Freiherr, the second-lowest title in traditional German nobility (Wikipedia). Thus perhaps a פראייר is someone who got jousted out of a higher position.
Other theories point to Polish or Romanian origins of the word, as well as an alternative origin in German.
אני לא פראייר can be spoken by males and females alike.
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