Language Survey
I have set up a little linguistic survey that I’d really appreciate if you fill up and forward to friends. The survey has 15 words we use often in Jordan, written in both Arabic and English, with the meaning next to them. I would appreciate it if you take the time to tick each word that is an active PART of your local dialect, ex. being familiar with it is not enough. Please also be very careful with which country you associate your dialect with, for example, if you are a Palestinian living in Jordan, try to choose the country that you think you picked most of your dialect from.
Last year when I was in Egypt, I was very overtaken by how HOT it was. So every few minutes, I would burst into a rage of “Kteeer showb hown!” Then, on my fourth and final day in Egypt, an Egyptian friend asks me, “Before you leave, can I ask you one question? What does ‘Showb’ mean?” I was amused. It had never occurred to me that “Showb”, a word we often use for “hot”, isn’t actually Arabic.
The case is the same for many other words we use. For example, it is very probable that the word “Mnarfez”, which means anxious, came from the English word “Nervous.” Khalaf has a little post about Arabized English in Jordan, and Ahmed has a similar post about language in Saudi Arabia. Being of mixed background and having lived in Saudi Arabia myself, I have my own hoard of words that most Jordanians do not use, such as “7assabet”, “bishweish”, and “Ja7ad”.
Arabic is very fascinating, and I would really appreciate it if you fill up the survey and forward it to your friends. I am especially interested in the answers of people from countries other than Jordan and Palestine. I am also interested in the answers of people who speak Hebrew.
You can find the words in the comment section too. Thanks a lot! :)
Roba
August 21, 2007 @ 11:18 am
بَحَر: نظَر بِتَفَحُّص وتأنيب — ba7ar (stare): leish 3am bteb7arni?
بَلَش: تقول الأم: انبلشت بالأطفال أي انشغلت بهم والبلشة هي الورطة أو المشكلة. — Balash (stuck with a problem): Ma beddi a3od anbilesh feehom!
انِبَلَم: أُفحِم, أُسكِت, أُحرِج فلم يدرِ ماذا يقول — Inbalam (stupified): Hisham inballam bas sa2alto 3an 7anna
حيل: قوة. h7eil (strength): Ma feyi 7eil ar2os hal ayam.
دَقَر: لمس الشيء وحركه بطرف يده — Daqar (brushed agaist): Mama Hisham beb2a yed2arni o ana 3am badros!
سَفّ :أو نسف أخذ — Saf (swallowed quickly): Leish heik safeit il dawa saf?
شحط: سحب أو جرّ على الأرض — Sha7at (drag): Bakrah il nas ili besh7ato ejreihom o homeh beymshu.
شلف : هرب — Shallaf (ran off): Ghassan shallaf bas wa2afo il shurti.
شوب: الحرّ — Showb (hot): Kteeeeeeeeeeer showb il yom!
طرش: دهن — Tarash (paint): Rashad Dallal kan atwal wa7ed bi Nables o kan yotrosh bedun Sellam.
فَرَط: خرجت روحه, مات. فرط النقود صرف — Farat (went apart): Fartat il so7beh ba3ed ma za3alha.
فركش: عثر وسقط — Farkash (tripped) :Dayman Roba betfarkesh o heyeh mashyeh.
فشخ: ضربه في الرأس — Fashakh (hit on the head): Ghassan kan dayman yenfashekh howeh o zgheer.
فكح: افكح غير مستقيم الأرجل — Faka7 (lopsided): Hada afka7 o howeh bemshi.
لَطَش: صفع, سرق — Latash (stole, slap): Omar latash menni il nadara!
Bino
August 21, 2007 @ 3:12 pm
In the UAE, Fak7a means Butt. I found that out when i was telling my friend “leish heik btemshi zay el fak7a” and she got all defensive and said “la7alech el fak7a”
Did you also know they use the term “Sheesha” for a “Petrol station” ? lol
Ayman
August 21, 2007 @ 10:13 pm
أنا بصراحة إنبلمت لما شفت هاد السيرفي . . . بحّرت زي هيك و حكيت : شو إللي بلشها هاي هالبلشة عن جد فيها حيل لهيك شغلات و خصوصاً بهالشوب إللي بخلي الواحد يفرط و ما ييجي عبالو غير يضل يسف مي و عصير . . . و خدلك عاد الواحد إزا طلع برات البيت يا حبيبي بتلاقيه ماشي متل الأفكح و بتفركش بللي رايح و إللي جاي و شاحط حالو شحط متل الشوال و إزا حد دقر فيه بتلاقيه مش عاجبو و بكون نفسو يفشخو بدبشة و يلطشو ستميت كف عجنب واحد و ما بصدق على الله إيمتى يشلف عالدار إللي أصلاً طلع منها عشان يجيب علبة دهان تا يكمل طراشة D:D:D:
Hani Obaid
August 21, 2007 @ 10:13 pm
When I first came to Jordan, the only unusual thing I found about the accent aside from some new words (like asfeen as in “darabni asfeen, fa ana kaman asfanto”, and Gazaztoona !!!) was when some of us use (g) to pronounce the (Qaf) and others don’t.
3 ways to pronounce (my heart):
1. Qalbi (fusha)
2. Albi (that’s how I say it)
3. Galbi (alternative)
Now I tend to use both the 2nd and 3rd pronounciation unconciously, and it drives some people nuts. (”Make up your mind!”).
Also as our work is often in English, we Computer Science people have our own “Arabish” words:
1. Faga3at/Tifga3: Not it exploded, rather its used when the software fails or returns an error
2. Itfakasat/Fakisha: fixed or fix it
3. Natifni/Nataftak: Notify me, I notified you, and jokingly Badi anatfak tanteef (not recommended to say to the boss !)
4. Saseeny / Saseytak: CC (carbon copy) me on that email, I cc’d (carbon copied) you on that email.
5. Raster/rastaret?: Reboot your pc, did you reboot your pc
- The most common mistake arabs speaking English make is the inability to differentiate their Ps and Bs.
- When using mixed English and arabic, you will often find yourself adding (al il-ta3reef) to English words.
- We will arabicise English names, (Morgan becomes Murjaan !)
Maha
August 22, 2007 @ 2:55 am
I think technical and computer terms don’t qualify for this Arabizi
in a mechanic shop all terms are twisted into an arabic pronounciation
bukux: back axe
bumbuction :pump action
hood : stays hood
same goes for verbs from computer lingo
ba7arr in palestenian means looked in jordanian other than it6ala3 is ladd, ja7arr in jordanian means stared
saf is also laha6
imad
August 22, 2007 @ 4:03 am
Didi it.
By the way Shallaf was also used (when we were a bit younger) to indicate a guy getting busy with a girl [shallaf 3aleha]
Also, like imnarviss, other words with the same wazin have entered my vocab, like imdapriss and imparyin (depressed & paranoid respectively).
Imad
ps. my anti-spam word was “tage3″. I love it.
Roba
August 22, 2007 @ 10:04 am
I think the word for got busy is shawwat no?
7aki Fadi
August 23, 2007 @ 1:31 am
LOL Ayman, mish tabeey shu inta 7ashash …
lebnani
August 23, 2007 @ 8:03 am
i filled up the survery. However, I’d like to point out to you that the words that I use in my dialect are sometimes not undrstood in other parts of Lebanon (region specific dialect). But overall, I think the Palestinian, Syrian, Lebanese and Jordanian accents are quite similar. They do have their own distinctive words and intonations obviously. By the way, great blog.
The Observer
August 23, 2007 @ 10:52 am
Done
Brian H
August 29, 2007 @ 12:10 pm
Argh. Your scripting sucks; the word test fails and wiped my response.
In real English, you don’t “fill up” a survey. That’s for stomachs and gas tanks. You can “fill in” or “fill out” a form or application. You “take” or “complete” a survey.