how to say “smooth” and “slippery” in Hebrew
I’m reading about the Mossad’s battle against the Black September terrorists in הַמּוֹסַד – The Mossad (hah-moh-SAHD), a book by Michael Bar-Zohar and Nissim Mishal. I hear it’s been translated to English.
A word used there to describe Mohamed Bodya, the Algerian fine-arts-aficionado/playboy behind many terror attacks in Europe and in Israel, is חֲמַקְמַק (khah-mahk-MAHK). It means slippery, as in, he would slip through the hand of his those trying to apprehend him.
חמקמק is related to the word לְהִתְחַמֵּק (leh-heet-khah-MEK), which means to escape, to evade, or to get out of doing something. For example, if you have a boy who would rather watch TV than do his dishes, you might say to him, אַל תִּתְחַמֵּק מֵהָאַחְרָיוּת – don’t run away from the (your) responsibility (ahl teet-khah-MEK meh-hah-ahkh-rah-YOOT).
להתחמק is a reflexive-intensive התפעל (heet-pah-EL) verb.
One of several synonyms is חֲלַקְלַק (khah-lahk-LAHK) – smooth (as in smooth criminal) – coming from the root ח.ל.ק (kh.l.k) meaning… smooth.
If you know of other synonyms, feel free to post them on our Facebook wall.
I’ve seen his amazing art at Hechal Shlomo and even acquired a piece myself.
It’s open throughout the summer.
