Sh*t wave hits Tel Aviv

It was bound to happen. Tel Avivians’ speech patterns have joined the “sh*t” video meme, following “Sh*t Girls Say,” “Sh*t Guys Say,” “Sh*t White Girls Say to Black Girls,” “Sh*t Christians Say to Jews,” “Sh*t Jewish Mothers Say,” “Sh*t Jewish Girls Say,” “Sh*t New Yorkers Say,” and many more.

Despite a certain inevitability, the video clip is spot-on in its portrayal of the city, its people and their attitude toward life in the Big Orange.

Herewith a few salient pointers to the references and repeated themes in the video:

• Al hashdera: Refers to Rothschild Boulevard, Tel Aviv’s first boulevard, which features a wide, green walking path in the middle that is used for strolling, people-watching and all kinds of urban gatherings, including last summer’s tent city protest
• Hipsterim: Just like it sounds, hipsters
• Haaretz: The newspaper of choice for many liberal, thinking Tel Aviv types, as opposed to Maariv and Yedioth Ahronoth, the country’s two major, more right-leaning tabloids
• “Galleria”: The culture section of Haaretz
• barur: Translated as “clearly.” As in, “Were you invited?” “Yes, barur.”
• kulam: Translated as “everyone,” as in, “Everyone [who is anyone] will be there.”
• mehira: Private sales held by local designers
• frequent use of words in English, including breakfast, deli, blog.
• repeated reference to the fact that no one in Tel Aviv gets any sleep because they’re too busy
• references to inflated apartment prices and a general lack of decent, available apartments
• nobody admits to having a television, but everyone watches the reality show “Big Brother.”
• “Will you be at the hafgana, the protest?” Meaning, you have to be at the protest, whatever is being protested.
• “Put me on the [invite] list for the party?”
• “Tel Aviv isn’t hot, it’s humid.”
• repeated use of the Facebook check-in feature on the iPhone, complete with the tagging of famous Tel Avivians, as if they were sitting at the same cafe

And, finally, the ultimate Tel Aviv mantra: “I’m moving to London [New York, Berlin]…but really, I love Tel Aviv.”