The Hebrew word צחוק means laughter. We combine צחוק with different verbs and prepositions to express how hard we laughed at something or just how funny something is.

But as is often the case with Hebrew slang, when used in the right context, and with the appropriate intonation and word-pairing, the word צחוק can be no laughing matter.

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New Words and Expressions:

Ts'chok – Laughter – צחוק

Eize ts'chok – That's hilarious – איזה צחוק

Ts'chok-ts'chok – Joking aside – צחוק-צחוק

Ts'chok ha-goral – The irony of life – צחוק הגורל

Tireh ma ze ts'chok ha-goral, hu haya menahel bank, ve-achshav hu ba-kele – Look at this cosmic irony, he was once a bank manager and now he's in jail – תראה מה זה צחוק הגורל, הוא היה מנהל בנק, ועכשיו הוא בכלא

La'asot ts'chok me-avoda – To turn something into a laughing matter – לעשות צחוק מעבודה

Ata ose ts'chok me-avoda – Are you kidding me? You're not doing what you're supposed to be doing) – אתה עושה צחוק מעבודה

Ma ze, hu ose ts'chok? – What's that? He can't be serious – ?מה זה, הוא עושה צחוק

At osa me-atsmech ts'chok – You're making a fool of yourself – את עושה מעצמך צחוק

Be-ts'chok – Jokingly – בצחוק

Stam, betschok! / Dai, nu, be-tschok! – Come on, I am joking – סתם, בצחוק / די, נו, בצחוק

Nishpachnu mi-ts'chok – We were all laughing really hard – נשפכנו מצחוק

Shofech mi-tschok – It's hilarious – שופך מצחוק

Met mi-tschok – Laughing really hard – מת מצחוק

Nikra mi-tschok – Laughing really hard – נקרע מצחוק

Ts'chokim be-tekes sof shana – Gags at the highschool graduation ceremony – צחוקים בטקס סוף שנה

Hayu sham ts'chokim – It was hilarious, we couldn't stop laughing – היו שם צחוקיםTs'chokim muklatim – Laugh track – צחוקים מוקלטים

Playlist and Clips:

Peter Roth – Ts'chok Ha-goral (lyrics)

Ts'chok me-avoda Standup Show

At osa me-atsmech ts'chok

Ravid Plotnik – New Day

Ep. 285