“Hey pilgrim!”
!يا حاج “Ya hagg!“ “Hey, person that appears to be over fifty years old and thus most likely visited Mecca to perform the Hajj once.” Why yes, those 21 words DID just condense themselves into two syllables.
The goal of #TeamMaha is to make the process of learning and speaking Arabic a bit less maddening for you all, whether that be through offering language study advice, detailed vocabulary and grammar notes, or a bit of much-needed comic relief. We focus mainly on Egyptian Arabic (Team Maha) and Syrian Arabic (Team Nisreen), but you’ll also find posts on Modern Standard Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, Iraqi Arabic and other dialects.
The original #TeamMaha site went down in 2024. This is an archive. All credit for the content goes to Chris Hitchcock, Caitlyn Doucette, and guest authors.
“You drink a cigarette?”
تشرب سجارة؟ “tashrab sigara?” “Do you want a cigarette?” I cannot fully express to you all how confusing this one is the first time you hear it.
“Their asses are heavy”
طيازهم تقيلة “teyazhom ta2eela“ Basically means, ‘they’re lazy.’ So accurate tho.
Two asses in the same pair of boxers
طيزين في الباس “teezayn fil bas“ “Inseparable / best friends.” Exponentially more intimate and evocative than “two peas in a pod.”
#HarassmentHits: Oh, goose!
ايه يا وزة “eh ya wezza!” aka, “Hey hottie.” Geese: Undeniably, irresistibly, HOT. ♥
“YOU BROKE THE WORLD.”
بوّظت الدنيا “bawazt ed-dunya!” (to a girl: bawazty) Equivalent to, “You messed everything up!” but a LOT more dramatic, especially when written in all caps as above. #DramaQueen2014
#HarassmentHits: “Hey milk!”
يا لبن “ya laban!“ English equivalent: “Hey gurl with skin that is white, which is incidentally the same color as milk, I am verbally harassing you in a lamentable attempt to assert my masculinity. Please look over this way and react in some form so I can impress my friends and random passerby by humiliating you!” Or alternatively, “Hey milky. Milk. MILK MILK. Miiiiiiiiiiiiiilk.”
“You will wake up like the camel”
هتصحي زي الجمل “hates7y zay el gamal” (to a guy: hates7a) Apparently this is a good thing. English equivalent is something like, “You’ll wake up feeling great.”
#UsefulEuphemisms: “Cultural Films”
أفلام ثقافية “aflam saqafeya” You might–very logically, I might add–guess that the phrase “cultural films” may refer to some aspect of Egypt’s golden age of cinema, a genre of cultural documentary, or anything along those lines really. …but nope. It really just means porn.
May God gross you out
الله يقرفك “Allah ye2refak” No equivalent for this one in English. Basically, when someone does something disgusting, you can wish grossness right back at them. Hashtag BLESSED. A related phase: ايه القرف دا – lit. “what is this grossness???” – used in both literally and metaphorically gross situations. For example: you’re walking around trying to get things done and there are WAY too many people outside / you stumble upon someone peeing on the street /someone else is being annoying and making you do things you don’t want to do (this last situation would merit a whispered ‘eh el 2araf da’ under your breath as you reluctantly get up to do whatever is required of you), and so on. ...