Following up on our earlier explanation of a bunch of MSA words that sound ridiculous when used in real life, here are a few more: 1. بدون Albeit a nice sounding word, no one says this in real life. In some dialects of Shami you might order your coffee من دون سكر (without sugar) but in Egypt من غير is most common. ...
A few more dubious subtitling choices that were recently brought to my attention: Alternative translation for “girlfriend” = صديقة حميمة (‘Intimate friend’) “Stripper” = راقصة (‘dancer’ with no further elaboration) “Hey, motherfucker” = يا سافل (‘Varmint’ or ‘ratfish’ according to the omnipotent Google) “Fuck no!” = كلا يا سيدي (No, sir!) All this aside, I will say that I once heard the English word (just the word!) ‘kiss’ censored out of some Bruno Mars song playing at City Mall in Jordan, so it could be much worse. Five gold stars for effort, subtitlers, wherever you may be. ...
Watching TV in Arabic is a fantastic way to get more listening practice and generally improve your vocabulary and comprehension, and I highly suggest all Arabic learners do this during their down time whenever possible. But when you get sick of that, or when there’s nothing to watch except Saudi men practicing falconry and Amr Adeeb flailing his arms about / having his weekly heart attack on air, you’ll inevitably find yourself flipping over to an English language movie. And I’m here to tell you how to make this experience quadruple the fun: pay attention to the subtitles. ...
هات بق “hat bo2” (as said to a man. To a woman: haty) This post does not, as you might have expected, belong under the inappropriate tag. The phrase actually means a very innocent, “I want a bite.” [For all my MSA-amiya transitioners out there, remember that ق often changes to hamza in amiya, hence no qaf sound in the transliteration.)
ايه وراك بكرة؟ “eh warak bokra?“ Like the infamous “You drink a cigarette?” this is one of those phrases that is so strange and confusing when you first hear it, you are struck with a blinding rage that makes you want to destroy the first copy of Hans Wehr you can get your hands on, because that shit is now dead to you. Confession: A language partner first asked me this almost a year and a half ago and I literally looked behind myself for a sec because I had no clue what he was saying. All it means is, “What do you have to do tomorrow / What are you doing tomorrow?” ...
العملية ناشفة “el 3ameleya nashfa“ File under: Shabab Speak, an enigmatic subset of Cairene dialect.
جالي برد “galy bard“ Actually means ‘I got a cold,’ but a super poetic way of expressing the thought to English-speaking ears. This structure works for all sorts of diseases that can ‘come’ to you, as well as various states of being, like: جاتلي حالة اكتئاب (something like, ‘a wave of depression washed over me,’). Interestingly, you can also take a cold: انت لابس خفيف قوى, هتاخد برد كدا = You’re not dressed warm (lit. ‘you are a very light dresser’–remember our friend ism fa3l), you’re going to get (take) a cold that way! ...
ايه كل الصواريخ دي؟ “eh kol el swaree5 de?“ For some reason I have not yet been able to pin down, in Egyptian Arabic, both inanimate objects and various types of waterfowl have strong associations to sexuality in the world of street harassment. صاروخ literally means missile or rocket, and since the phrase above uses the plural صواريخ, it would be used in reference to multiple babes (baes?).
ضحك علي “da7ak alaya” This phrase literally means “he laughed at me” but in practice translates roughly to “he screwed me over,” as in I was charged too much money for something. One of the most apt phrases I have personally encountered on my Arabic journey–you KNOW that guy let out an extended cackle of sweet satisfaction as your sorry khawaga ass trudged away out of sight.
Seven Bizarre Phrases Used to Harass Women in Egypt Highlights include random men comparing women to waterfowl and a plethora of food references!