Tarantino casually drops Hebrew expression
A Hebrew lesson, from an unlikely source: Quentin Tarantino.
Tarantino, the film director who’s now a father to two Israeli kids with wife Daniella Pick, and who spends much of his time in Israel, recently spoke in an interview about his favourite movies. He talked about Suspicion, and how the movie contains one of his favourite endings.
While discussing the ending, Tarantino says the movie does a “hafuch al hafuch,” pronouncing that final letter as a “k” instead of “ch,” but you got to give him props for using a great expression.
Literally, it means upside down on upside down, and Tarantino rightly uses it in the context of subverting expectations — and specifically in Suspicion, subverting the viewers’ ideas about Cary Grant’s character in the movie.
So where is Tarantino learning these Hebrew sayings? While he’s said he’s taken in a lot of Hebrew vocab from dubbed Israeli children’s television, I think this is probably one he learned in an adult conversation, perhaps with his wife or in on one of his bar hangs.
Case in point: there’s a picture of him getting a drink in a bar called Jem’s in the city of Ra’anana, which shows he’s very much embodying the role of a regular Israeli schmoe!
Here’s hoping for more Tarantino Hebrew lessons soon.
Kveller
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