ABSTRACT
This paper examines the speech mode known in colloquial Israeli Hebrew as kiturim or kuterai, whose closest English equivalent would be ‘griping’. As many Israelis concede, and some lament, griping has become an ever-present speech activity in informal encounters among Israelis. So much so that Friday night gatherings in Israeli homes, which form the major context for middle-class Israelis to get together socially, have earned the label mesibot kiturim, that is, ‘griping parties’.
