how to say “to jump through hoops” in Hebrew

 

לַעֲשׂוֹת שְׁמִינִיּוֹת בָּאֲוִיר

 

 
When someone makes a great extra effort to get something done, especially for someone else, we might say that they’re jumping through hoops or going the extra mile.
 
In Hebrew, we call this making figure eights in the air: לַעֲשׂוֹת שְׁמִינִיּוֹת בָּאֲוִיר listen and repeat.
 
ספר שמיניות באוויר
 
For example:
 
הִיא עָשְׂתָה שְׁמִינִיּוֹת בָּאֲוִיר כְּדֵי לְהַגִּישׁ אֶת הָעֲבוֹדָה בַּזְּמַן.
She jumped through hoops to finish the job on time.
 
 
Broken down…
 
לעשות listen and repeat to do, to make
שמיניות listen and repeat – plural of שְׁמִינִית listen and repeat, an eighth or a figure eight
באויר listen and repeat in the air, where אֲוִיר listen and repeat, a Hebrew word borrowed from Ancient Greek, means air (note how similar the words אוויר and air are)
 
שמיניות באוויר is also the name of an Israeli TV show that aired in the 1980s.

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