A return ticket from Noah’s Flood: הָלוֹךְ וָשׁוֹב

הָלוֹךְ וָשׁוֹב

ha-LOCH va-SHOV, back and forth, or there and back. Literally “going and returning”.

Open Genesis, chapter 8. The Flood is ending, and the waters go down הָלוֹךְ וָשׁוֹב. But there it means “steadily receding”, on and on. Not back and forth at all.¹ Four verses later Noah sends out the raven, and that bird really does fly back and forth: יָצוֹא וָשׁוֹב (yatso va-shov), going out and returning.²

Today the phrase has two jobs: pacing back and forth, and a round trip.³ It doesn’t change for a man or a woman, so you can use it straight away.

How Israelis use it today:

• A return ticketקָנִיתָ כַּרְטִיס הָלוֹךְ וָשׁוֹב?Did you buy a return ticket? (to a man)kanita kartis haloch va-shov?
• Round trip or one wayאַתְּ צְרִיכָה כַּרְטִיס הָלוֹךְ וָשׁוֹב, אוֹ רַק לְכִוּוּן אֶחָד?Do you need a return ticket, or just one way? (to a woman)at tsricha kartis haloch va-shov, o rak le-kivun echad?
• Pacingהִיא הָלְכָה הָלוֹךְ וָשׁוֹב בַּמִּטְבָּח.She paced back and forth in the kitchen.hi halcha haloch va-shov ba-mitbach
• There and backהַנְּסִיעָה לָעֲבוֹדָה לוֹקַחַת לִי שָׁעָתַיִם הָלוֹךְ וָשׁוֹב.My commute takes me two hours there and back.ha-nesi’a la-avoda lokachat li sha’atayim haloch va-shov
• More casualהָלוֹךְ וְחָזוֹרSame meaning, more everydayhaloch ve-chazor

1. Bereishit (Genesis) 8:3. Read it on Sefaria
2. Bereishit (Genesis) 8:7. Read it on Sefaria
3. Rav-Milim, entries הָלוֹךְ וָשׁוֹב and כַּרְטִיס הָלוֹךְ וָשׁוֹב.