Passing Phrase - www.learnhebrew.org.il

Yeish Letzayen

Literally and Idiomatically: It should be noted / It must be specified

The word Tziyen means to point out (Ma'aser Shenei 5:1) or to distinguish, which is interesting because the word for excellent is "Metzuyan" and to be distinguished is "Hitztayen." This is a modern phase which finds its way into many reports as in

יש לציין את ההבדלים בין...

"Yesh letzayen et haHevdelim bein...” Differences should be noted between…

The phrase also has a slightly different usage than what is noted above. You will find it in almost every form you ever fill out. For example, before you can enter your online account, there will probably be a line stating:

יש לציין את שם המשתמש...

"Yesh letzayein (et) shem haMishtamesh" - the user name must be specified. And naturally if you don’t remember your user name, you are stuck and have to write in and wait to get a new one. In the old days who had a problem remembering their name? If you did you were probably not filling in forms.

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