# מצב כפית



## shushanna

Dear All !!!

I've just come across spoony definition and that's: enamored in a silly or sentimental way” or “feebly sentimental; gushy.” Someone who manifests spooniness is also called a spoony or just a spoon.

When I've been to Israel they thought me an expression like: *macav kapih/t* (I might spell it incorrectly, I'm sorry) I've heard that it refers to a mood in which one laughts aloud from anything that sees/hears. They told me it means the state (of mind) of spoon and it derives from famous Matrix scene in which Neo sees a young boy distorting a spoon only by use of his mind. Does macav kapih really exist in hebrew and does it have any to do with Matrix and spoony?

Thank you


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## Tamar

It's pronounced [matsav kapit] and it is what they told you - you can't stop laughing, for no reason. I don't know where it comes from, but I don't think it comes from Matrix.


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## scriptum

The source of the expression is the "spoon test": say "spoon" to somebody, and if he bursts out laughing, well, then he is in the "spoon state". See
http://he.wiktionary.org/wiki/מצב_כפית


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## shushanna

Ah, thank you.
I would love to read more but I can't understand (yet!) the hebrew wikipedia page on it


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## Imaginative_Detective

Matsav kapit or spoon mode is an extreme state of exhaustion or foolish state when a person burst out laughing regardless of it being funny, often because of a random word

The phrase got its name following the "spoon test" which is designed to check if a person is in the above fatigue state. In this case, that person will laugh out loud at the word "spoon". The word "spoon" was randomly chosen as representing something that should not make a funny person at all in normal mood.


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## rebecka

Why is there a dot in the middle of צ in מַצַּב כַּפִּית? Does it indicate that the letter is to be pronounced as a stop rather than a fricative? I know that is its function in the first two letters of כַּפִּית.


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## Drink

rebecka said:


> Why is there a dot in the middle of צ in מַצַּב כַּפִּית? Does it indicate that the letter is to be pronounced as a stop rather than a fricative? I know that is its function in the first two letters of כַּפִּית.



Today, it may be safely ignored. Traditionally, however, it meant the letter is to be pronounced longer. This is similar to double letters in English, such as the t's in "butter"; we don't pronounce them double anymore but we still write them that way, but in the past they were pronounced double.


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## JoMe

rebecka said:


> Why is there a dot in the middle of צ in מַצַּב כַּפִּית?


מצב is of root יצב, belongs to גזרת חסרי פה-יוד-צדי, aka גזרת חפי"צ, aka בֹּרג-תֶּקע, aka בִּקעת-גֵּר. In short, these are some specific roots that start with letter יוד followed by צדי, (or less often by זין, or even less often by סמך), which is, for these roots, in certain conjugations, replaced by דגש חזק on the following letter.


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## rebecka

Thank you. Why did you qualify דגש with חזק though? Are there two types of dagesh?


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## JoMe

(That should be a different thread I guess)

There are דגש קל and דגש חזק.

דגש קל is for letters בגד-כפת, to make them sound b-g-d-k-p-t (vs. bh-gh-dh-kh-ph-th) when appear at start of word or start of syllable. In modern Hebrew bh is realized as v, kh as kh (no English equivalent), ph as f, the other 3 are not changed by the דגש. These six letters are realized with דגש חזק as with דגש קל.

דגש חזק is for gemination (or whatever it's called), realized historically but not in modern Hebrew (except of b-k-p like for דגש קל) as stress of the letter (may include other change in pronunciation). דגש חזק may be a characteristic of the word pattern, as in verb patterns pi`el - pu`al - hitpa`el. Also in noun patterns. It can also be a result of assimilation (or whatever it's called) of two similar letters like תד. Also for verbs of גזרת חפ"נ and גזרת חפי"צ as a result of a letter נון or יוד replaced (as we saw) by דגש. I guess there are some other cases for דגש חזק.


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## elroy

Tamar said:


> you can't stop laughing, for no reason


 I think “giddiness” is a good English translation.


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