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Friday, December 1, 2006

שקט בבקשה

posted by on December 1 at 11:05 AM

This was originally posted yesterday, but Slog disappeared yesterday. So….

That’s Hebrew for Shut the Fuck Up. It’s pronounced Sheket Bavakasha! Literally, it means: “Be quiet please.” But generations of angry Hebrew school teachers, scolding noisy students, have transformed the polite admonition into a nuclear threat.

Starting today, I’m going to start issuing semi-regular Sheket Bavakasha! awards. The first Sheket Bavakasha! goes to Team Nickels for the ridiculous press release it just sent out.

In the release, titled “Corrections and clarifications to today’s news stories” Team Nickels whines about the PI:

In today’s Post-Intelligencer, the following passage is incorrect:

“Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels … is still scrambling to come up with a finance plan to cover the additional expense of tunneling.”

Correction: The City of Seattle, in conjunction with the Washington State Department of Transportation, has developed a detailed funding package that would cover the costs of replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a cut-and-cover tunnel. That funding package has been fully vetted and endorsed by an independent Expert Review Panel appointed by Governor Christine Gregoire.

Sheket Bavakasha! Team Nickels. The project is estimated to cost between $3.6 and $5.5 billion. You’ve got $2.2 billion from the state (and that might only be for a rebuid or retrofit…not a tunnel.) And then you’ve got $3.75 billion in “anticipated” funding … counting iffy money from an iffy regional package that hasn’t been worked out yet…that still may fall apart once it is finalized. And then it still has to go to voters.

The PI is right: Mayor Nickels is “still scrambling to come up with a finance plan to cover the additional expense of tunneling.”


שקט בבקשה

RSS icon Comments

1

Oh man, Josh, you're bringing back such terrible memories of Hebrew school and Mr. Bleiman. I doubt that he knew anyone's name, but he sure got us all to know the meaning of "sheket bavakasha".

Posted by N in Seattle | November 30, 2006 1:59 PM
2

Sheket Bavakasha, yourself Josh. All they said is that the expert review panel showed their financing package to be sound. You don't agree. You aren't necessarily right. And if you want to talk about whether funding is sound, tell me where there is a single nickel for the "surface" or the "transit" in the surface+transit proposal.

Posted by stop already | November 30, 2006 4:46 PM
3

I prefer the French version, Taisez-vous or Tais-toi.

But, yeah, that was so lame as to be Rovespeak by the City. At best it's $2 billion in local Seattle-only taxes that would have to be paid for the insane underwater tunnel - at worst, it's a lot more, not to mention killing the 520 bridge options and a lot more.

Now we'll see what eminent domain by a state against a city means ...

Posted by Will in Seattle | November 30, 2006 4:48 PM
4

The State doesn't have to use eminent domain -- it already has control. It is an open-and-shut case that the State trumps the City.

Moreover, good news --- Gregoire is catching on:

The Governor's legislative liaison said that

'...the Governor's choices aren't limited to a new viaduct or a tunnel. "It's feasible she could say 'I don't think any of these things are financially viable, look again..." '

Posted by City Comforts | November 30, 2006 6:33 PM
5

Thanks for actually putting the Hebrew in. I love Hebrew. I fucking changed my name to a Hebrew name because I love Hebrew so much. More Hebrew! More!

Posted by Gitai | November 30, 2006 7:19 PM
6

Who told you it's pronounced 'bavakasha'? In Hebrew class we always pronounced the first syllable "viv--"...

Posted by Matthew | November 30, 2006 8:12 PM
7

Matthew is incorrect.

It's Sheket B'vakasha.

By me, it did not mean shut up. It was actually quite fun.

Sheket B'vakasha, hey!
Sheket B'vakahey, sha!

(and sha! means shut up ;))

Posted by Leah | November 30, 2006 8:18 PM
8

"Sheket bevakasha" is way too polite to mean "shut the fuck up". It's been almost 30 years since I lived in Israel so my knowledge of Hebrew slang is a little outdated, but the closest thing I remember to "shut the fuck up" is סתום 'ת הפה שלך "stom t'a peh shelkha", (or "stom" for short) which literally means "plug your mouth".

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky | November 30, 2006 9:35 PM
9

Good point about State vs City. The amusing thing is that both the City Council and the Mayor are so clueless as to think they even get a say in the matter - maybe they should wake up and smell the Federal Courthouse that the US government plopped down after seizing the land where it FELT like building it - without any permits, other than federal ones.

Some people just seem to not get how our system of government actually WORKS.

Posted by Will in Seattle | December 1, 2006 12:26 AM
10

Halt die Klappe! (shut your trap!)

I love German.

Posted by Monique | December 1, 2006 11:17 AM
11

Josh, your new award already has its own theme song, provided by none other than noted Jew Barbra Streisand!!

listen here

Posted by Explorer | December 1, 2006 12:03 PM
12

Shut yer bleedin' piehole!

Posted by Fnarf | December 1, 2006 12:23 PM
13

Wrong, Leah #7! There's a kamez under the initial bet, not a schva.

Posted by Gitai | December 1, 2006 12:44 PM

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