Israelis Shocked That Netflix Not Pronounced ‘Netfleeks’

“I’ve been saying the name wrong. It’s just on the face, on the face.”

Tel Aviv, January 7 – With Netflix expanding its service into Israel for the first time as of yesterday, hundreds of thousands of Israelis rushed to avail themselves of its video-streaming, only to discover that they have been mispronouncing the company’s name this whole time.

Movie enthusiasts eager to gain lawful access to popular films and shows on their devices in Israel have waited years for its availability in their country, all the time pronouncing it “Netfleeks.” Upon hearing it said in an American accent, with the obvious playful use of “flicks” as slang for “movies,” the native Hebrew speakers were dumbfounded that in fact it is not a pun on “fleek,” a different slang term referring to manifest prowess in a given arena of activity.

“I was so surprised I couldn’t concentrate on the first couple of scenes of Preety Woman,” confessed Dafna Gafni, 30, of Holon. “Ever since before eight years, when I first heared of it, I’ve been saying the name wrong. It’s just on the face, on the face.”

Her friend Shahar, who joined Dafna in the latter’s living room for the occasion with some wine, expressed similar bewilderment. “We Israelis are usually very good at understanding American cultural references, slang, whatever,” she reasoned. “So we know the way we pronounce words might not be the same. But I’m surprised nevertheless, because how were we supposed to know? The way I feel? There is no to describe.” Shahar conceded that when they overcame their initial shock they sat back and enjoyed the popular 1990 film. She described the Richard Gere-Julia Roberts romantic comedy as “the end of the way.”

American expats living in Israel say the phenomenon is not actually new, but now being experienced on a simultaneous scale that has no precedent. “So many people logging on at once and encountering the actual, correct pronunciation is far different from a handful of people at a time in a Berlitz beginner’s English class suddenly being forced to distinguish among ‘is,’ ‘his,’ and ‘he’s,'” explained Hope Liss, who teaches ESL in Jerusalem. “Each time I give that lesson, there’s a tremendous barrier to overcome, like my students’ identity is being challenged because something so basic as their understanding of vowels is inadequate. I have to spend as much time addressing their insecurity as the material itself.”

Cultural anthropologists say that ultimately, the discovery will help remove cultural barriers. “It’s always constructive, and instructive, to be shown how one’s previous conceptions about something, especially a language and culture, require deepening,” said Professor N. Limmusag of Tel Aviv University. “Except for the Israeli political left, which will never learn.”