here’s the second edition of the list. see if you can translate these to english, and look out for the answers to this list and the first edition of the list soon insha’Allah!
- tareeq al bawaba – طريق البوابة
- 3al-lem el dekka – علم الدكة
- bedoon welaya – بدون ولاية
- merta7 3al akher – مرتاح على الأخر
- 3asifat al mokh – عاصفة المخ
- o2af ganb – قف جانب
- no2tet kasr – نقطة كسر
- lematha al nesba al thahabeya – لماذا النسبة الذهبية
- noskha fa7meya 3amya2 – نسخة فحمية عمياء
- nas ba7eb – نص بحب
- elbes sa3b – إلبس صعب
- belyard etisalat – باليرد إتصالات
- al khat al mayet – الخط الميت
- shoghl berwaz – شغل برواز
- seyaset naql al kalam al majnoon – سياسة نقل الكلام المجنون
- el sa3b al sahl – الصعب السهل
- ahlan ya tareeq – أهلاً يا طريق
- wedn al-mu7ar-rik – ودن المحرك
- ton na3na3 we7esh – طن نعنع وحش
- 3ala el debanna – على الذبابة
- etefa2 regala – اتفا رجالا
- anessa wa2fa ta7t – انسة واقفة تحت
- 3amood be 6aboor – عمود بطبور
- innahu thahaba bondo2 – إنه ذهب بندق
over a year ago, my ex-roommate and i published a link, entitled “Lughat ul Arabiyya fi asrina” – today, over a year later, i am happy to announce a new set of words and phrases to add to the given list. most of these, mind you, have come up in the past 5 weeks in which i’ve been in egypt (i don’t take all the credit – this list was devised by my friends and i). so without further adieu, here is the list:
- khashabat ul ba2 – خشبة ال-ب
- 7ashara – حشرة
- shafra ta7t al nashra – شفرة تحت النشرة
- ye-akkel wara – يؤكل وراء
- 7awd fawq yawmi – حوض فوق يومي
- zawed 3amood fel tarabayza fe qa3edat al ma3loomat – زود عمود فالتربيزة في قاعدة المعلومات
- shabakat al fool – شبكات الفول
- khusoof – خسوف
- nenafa2laha – ننفألهة
- lam7a mofeeda (sample usage: sebna lel garsone lam7a mofeeda) – or 7arf (sebna lel garsone 7arf) – لمحة مفيدة
- thalj ishta (or, if you’re s3eedi, 3yoon ishta) – ثلج إشطة
- anhu raml (extra credit, anhu raml ghabi – requires a l2 parser) – أنه رمل
- nas al qahwa (sample usage: a7yanan, astakhdem 7asharat al nar fee tha3lab al nar le ajid al 7asharat fe nas al qahwa) – نص القهوة
- fawq al 7ijr – فوق الحجر
- fo2 al tareekh – فوق التاريخ
- ana a7shu (or ana kashkool) – أنا أحشو
- hadhib al khayt (sample usage: matensash te samkar el khayt 3ashan lama teegi tehadhib al khayt fel khayt, maye7salsh mashakel lel khayt) – هذب الخيط
- 3aqeedat ul 7ashasheen – عقيدة الحشاشين
- 7alet al hawa (or shart al hawa) – حالة الهواء
- ijtima3 wenta wa2if fo2 – إجتماع و إنت وإف فوق
- mujamma3 al ma2kolat (or muqri2 al ma2kolat) – مجمع المأكولات
- baskaweet – baskaweet
- toot al aswad – توت الأسود
- sena zar2a – سنة زرقة
- yasooq al barq – يسوق البرق
- 3adee al mina – عادي المينة
stay tuned for part 2!
place names in alexandria are eccentric to say the least. many places here have names that are not arabic in any way possible. here are some examples:
- abou quer – you can see this famous and large road on the map in the previous post. because egyptian slang has the qaf switched with a hamza, it ends up being pronounced as “abou ear” – the only arabic part about that is the “abou” (father of).
- san stefano – an area with one of the largest malls in Alexandria.
- kirosez mall – pronounced kiro-sees.
- assid – pronounced as “acid.”
speaking of abou quer, it was named after a good guy, abou quer, who had an evil brother, abou seer. abou seer killed abou quer and dragged him from one side of alexandria to the next, and hence they named the road abou quer. go figure.
i guess i can’t really complain, as egypt as a whole (outside of cairo and alexandria) has even more eccentric names (come on, seriously, who on earth names an egyptian city “zefta,” especially given its connotation in slang egyptian!?)