how to say “to fall between the cracks” in Hebrew

 

having trouble seeing the print?

לִפּוֹל בֵּין הַכִּסָּאוֹת
 
 
 
Suppose a teacher is delivering a daily lecture to a group of forty students. While many students – especially more vocal ones – may prosper, others are bound to fall between the cracks and miss out on the material and the attention of the teacher – to be overlooked.
 
An alternative expression in English is to fall between the stools or the chairs – where, instead of sitting upright on a chair in the teacher’s full visibility, the student has fallen on the floor, between the chairs, situated neither here nor there. 
 
 

This expression was used among the ancients, well before the English language employed it. And Modern Hebrew uses it as well: to fall between the chairs is, literally, לִפּוֹל בֵּין הַכִּסָּאוֹת listen and repeat.
 
Broken down:
 
 
בין listen and repeat between
 
הכסאות listen and repeat the chairs – כִּסָּאוֹת listen and repeat is the plural of כִּסֵּא listen and repeat, chair, a masculine noun. הַ listen and repeat is the Hebrew definite article.
 
Here’s an example of the expression in action:
 
חָשׁוּב לְהִשְׁתַּתֵּף בַּשִּׁיעוּר כְּדֵי לֹא לִפּוֹל בֵּין הַכִּסָּאוֹת.
It’s important to participate in class so as not to fall between the cracks.

Similar Posts