Hebrew mishaps don't stop at tattoos, however. And so today we'll explore the wonderland of amateurishly composed Hebrew T-Shirts!
God Answers... Vivoo vi vi vo - I very much doubt God ever said anythiung like that! Well, he could, if he were imitating bad French, maybe.
Supposedly it says Hashem, "The Name", in Hebrew. Hashem is used by Jews to refer to God while not saying his name explicitly (in vain).What does it really say? YHWH - God's most sacred name on top, and Yehoshua, a random name, on the bottom. Bad research!
Now this one is supposed to say Jesus (Yeshua), but due to a wrong letter, it ends up as a totally meaningless "Isra".
And this is supposedly "Long Island", which very unfortunately reads more like "Leng Ishlend" in Hebrew.
This one has the English translation of "tolerance", on the bottom, but the Hebrew word is written in the wrong direction. Therefore "Sovlanut" (tolerance) turns into "Tunnelbus" which sounds kind of funny.
This Hebrew shirt is a special favorite of mine. It was supposed to say "Red Sox" in Hebrew letters, but instead spells out "Rad Sex".
And the shirt above? It's simply annoying. "I love Christmas", written using a "Hebrewlike Font" or whatever it might be called. An English font fashioned to look like Hebrew letters. Very uncomfortable to read. Not pretty either. Don't use it kids!All shirts were found in shops on Cafepress and Zazzle. Wear them at your own risk!
Want a properly spelled Hebrew t-shirt? These Zazzle stores were checked and confirmed to have correct Hebrew spellings: Hebrew Store, The WORD in Hebrew, Rotem Gear, Makor Hebrew.
Great collection! And its less saddening than the bad Hebrew tattoos.
ReplyDeleteHey babe, how about we go together to the Tunnelbus and have Rad Sex after that?
Yehoshua is given by some Christians to be Jesus' Hebrew name, rather than Yeshua.
ReplyDeleteYiddish pronunciation. Mystery solved.
ReplyDeleteAh, shirts meant to be worn inside-out, backwards, or to the circus Hall of Mirrors. Still, better than permanent kish-kush on ones butt.
ReplyDeleteYehoshua, Joshua, was Jesus' hebrew name. Rabbi Joshua...
ReplyDeleteHow can we tell that the Red Sox one says Rad Sex if it doesn't have the vowels? Sorry my Hebrew knowledge is a bit rudimentary, but I was wondering.
ReplyDeleteThe Red Sox question is a good one, so I'll explain.
ReplyDeleteSee, when writing a foreign word which the reader has no idea how to pronounce, you have to provide clues. One option is using Nikkid (vowels), the other is using full spelling.
Using full spelling, you'd need to add in the letter Vav for Sox or Soox, a Yod for Six and an Aleph for Sux. Left as is, the word will be automatically recognized as Sex.
As for Red, there's this little smudge of color beneath the Resh. It looks exactly like the Nikkud you'd use for A in Rad.
Thanks for the Red Sox explanation!
ReplyDeleteThe first one was probably printed out of a PDF which had the Hebrew in text rather than as an image. Some PDF readers, for a reason unknown to me, remove all Hebrew letters except for Vav and Yod. (and final Nun? I forget)
ReplyDeleteisra actually has a meaning it means he will lie down. maybe it's an invitation for members of the other sex?
ReplyDeleteIf you were to rep Long Island as a ”shtetl,” you should at least do it oyf yidish: לאנג אייַַלענד.
ReplyDeleteand a dagesh for the over exaggerated gimmel. lawn-guyland is how it seems to be pronounced...
ReplyDeleteLol. Tunnelbus is german for "train bus" and no.. It doesn't make any sense there, too. But we have this weird thing of sticking random words together to produce a new word, so maybe someone got creative...? Or something like that.
ReplyDeleteEven the spelling is correct. I approve :D