Word Prompt – SABABA – Martin Bodek

I remember the first time I heard the word "sababa." I immediately asked the person next to me (this happened to be my wife) what it meant. She said, "Ya know, like, um, gnarly." She likes to speak in a language I understand, you see.

Since then, I haven't really heard it used in conversation, despite many trips to Israel, but I have seen it on lots of t-shirts and restaurant marquees. You can't travel 25,000 miles in any direction without running into another one.

But what is the word all about? Where does it come from?

Did you know it's actually an Arabic word? It's from "tzababa," which translates to, wouldn't you have guessed it, "gnarly." I'd like for The Jewish Press to spell it out in the original Arabic, but they might not have the font.

Now, if I was to translate it into modern slang, it would be "no worries," which is an overused phrase, because "no problem" is now underused because it is not allowed to be used anymore. Someone declared it evil, and I'm not sure why.

They didn't think it was sababa, which is not sababa.