
November 7, 2018
What’s with the Hebrew Expression “To Jump over One’s Bellybutton”?
By PhilologosThe tale of the pupik.
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Avi Rockoff writes:
On my last visit to Israel, I learned of the Hebrew expression likpots me’al ha-pupik [literally, “to jump over one’s bellybutton”], which apparently means something like “to go off half-cocked.” Do you know anything about the origin of this colorful but curious expression? I don’t believe it comes from Yiddish, which to the best of my knowledge has nothing like it.