# לעבוד מדורות



## dukaine

Based on the context in which I heard this, I'm thinking it means "to put out/deal with fires", in the figurative sense.  I just wanted to be sure.  Here's the sentence:

ככה העסק הזה עבוד מדורות.

"That's how this business puts out/deals with fires."

Is that right?  The speaker was explaining why he didn't take a certain matter to court.


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## arielipi

thats not a sentence thats making any sense.


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## origumi

That's how this business works (runs, managed) for generations (= very long time period).

עובד מ-דורות


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## dukaine

Ahh, ok.  Where would I be without you guys?  Thanks so much!!


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## dukaine

arielipi said:


> thats not a sentence thats making any sense.



In English, "to put out/deal with fires" means to handle bad situations.  If you put out the fire, you handled a pretty intense situation successfully, albeit with difficulty.


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## arielipi

yea i know that - in hebrew it doesnt make any sense.


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## arbelyoni

dukaine said:


> In English, "to put out/deal with fires" means to handle bad situations.  If you put out the fire, you handled a pretty intense situation successfully, albeit with difficulty.


In Hebrew: לכבות שריפות
(probably a loan translation from English?)


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## Tararam

לכבות שריפות in Hebrew is usually used when you "put out several little fires with no regard to the big one" i.e solve the minor issues without addressing the main one.
If I'm not mistaken the English counterpart can mean the same thing.


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## Egmont

The problem with the original translation is that a מדורה isn't the sort of fire one would put out. It's a campfire, a bonfire, a signal fire, or a funeral pyre, in any case deliberately lit for a specific purpose under controlled conditions. Putting out a campfire, if it doesn't burn out by itself, is about as noteworthy as turning off an electric light, so one wouldn't make a statement about how a business does it. Hebrew has several other words for fire as well, including אש (the most general term), שריפה as in the previous post (literally burning), and בעירה (combustion).


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## dukaine

That's good to know.  I think origumi's translation is the one that I was going for.  I always forget that some letters are sometimes prepositions, and I don't remember to try to find the meaning of the word without it.


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## OsehAlyah

origumi said:


> That's how this business works (runs, managed) for generations (= very long time period).
> 
> עובד מ-דורות



Ori, I noticed that you have the vav before bet whereas dukaine had it after. Was her's just a typo?


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## origumi

OsehAlyah said:


> Ori, I noticed that you have the vav before bet whereas dukaine had it after. Was her's just a typo?


I assumed it's a typo in dukaine's post. Otherwise the meaning could be "bonfires processing" which doesn't make sense to me.


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## dukaine

Yes, it was a typo.  My bad!


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