The origin of Zabaj (‘ז”בז)

My first post may as well be the origin of our blog’s name, Zabaj.

Zabaj was actually an expression before it became an acronym. The expression is based on a loose translation of “junk in the trunk” to Hebrew: Zevel Ba’Bagaj (‘זבל בבגז). But, of course, like everything in Israeli culture, it was begging for an acronym. And that’s how Zabaj was born.

Further evolving the expression, as is also common in Israel, the acronym can now also be conjugated. For example, if a girl was skinny but now sports a chubby ass, you may say “היא הזדבז’ה.” Another favorite is to call someone a Zabajnik or Zabajnikit.

(Props to Eitan for the grammatical correction)

(for a further etymology, read this post)

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