Tzanua…Not Tznius!

Question

People often say tznius when they mean to say tzanua. Do you know of any other examples in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Yiddish in which people use the noun but they really mean to use the adjective?

Answer 1

Not specifically adjectival use of nouns, but:

• man d'amar, Aram. non-constituent, to mean "opiner", noun
• hava amina, Aram. verb phrase, to mean "first thought", noun
• teku, Aram. verb, to mean "unresolved question", noun
• ma matzinu, Heb. non-constituent (I think), to mean "logical argument from one thing to a comparable thing", noun
• k'le kodesh, Heb. plural noun, to mean "one who works in religion", singular noun (should be k'li kodesh)
• nafka minah, Aram. verb phrase, to mean "result", noun
• upshern, Yid. verb (I think), to mean "haircut", noun

Surely someone will think of more, though.

Answer 2

A famous mispronunciation mixing active and passive: if Reuvein holds a gun to your head and says to kill Shimon, yaharog v'al ya'avor?

Answer 3

Nominal use of the adjective* kasher (kaʃeʁˈ, mispronounced kʰoʊˈʃɹ̩)

Examples:

to keep kosher

understanding kosher

*Unless כשר is a stative verb!

Answer 4

You also have Ba'al Koreh, which would make sense to call the husband of the Torah reader for a women's minyan:)- O.K. that would be the ba'al hakor'ah?? Kor"eis??