Tag Archives: Arabic folk speech

“Whoever eats alone chokes” – Arabic Proverb

Context:

She learned this from her brothers in Jordan when they were young. They were trying to convince her to share her treats (she was the youngest and was spoiled), so they would tell her this proverb, hoping that she would give them some out of fear of choking.

Text:

Original Script: اللي بياكل لحاله بزور

Transliteration: Elly biakol lahalo bizwar

Translation: Whoever eats alone chokes

Thoughts:

I’ve heard this proverb a couple of times, after I choked while eating alone. The proverb is meant to discourage people from not sharing their food, or eating by themselves, likely because Arabs usually eat as a family. This proverb focuses not on giving advice, but on protecting that family tradition.

“Is there a worm in your butt?” – Arabic Saying

Context:

She heard it a lot in her childhood from her aunts when she was in Jordan. If someone is restless, and can’t sit still, they would ask that person, “Fi doodeh bi teezak?”

Text:

Original Script: في دودة بطيزك؟

Transliteration: Fi doodeh b-teezak?

Literal Translation: Is there worm in your butt?

Smooth Translation: Is there a worm in your butt?

Thoughts:

This was a saying I heard when I was a kid, and I still find it funny to this day; it has the listener imagine someone unable to sit still because of the discomfort of having a worm in their butt. Because that situation would be considered abnormal, and it is being compared to a person who can’t sit still, the saying implies that Arabs see it abnormal for someone to not sit still and rest.

“Wipe it on my beard” – Arabic Saying

Context:

He heard it a few times when he was a teenager in Jordan. According to him, someone trying to “break up the fight or reconcile the parties” would use this saying to calm the people down.

Text:

Original Script: امسحها بلحيتي

Transliteration: Imsa-ha bi lihiti

Translation: Wipe it on my beard

Thoughts:

This saying intrigues me because it does not sound like anything meaningful at first, but it starts making some sense when given some thought. The mediator, by telling the two people/groups to “wipe it on [his] beard,” is saying to leave their grievance there with him. When you wipe dirt from your hand onto another surface, the dirt is no longer on your hand, and it stays on the wall. The fact that there is saying for this shows that Arabs, like many people, commonly act as mediators.

“The key to the stomach is a bite” – Arabic Proverb

Context:

She learned it from her grandma when she was a kid in Jordan. When her grandma offered her food, and she said that she has no appetite, her grandma would say “Muftah el button lo’meh” as a way to get her to eat a bite to increase her appetite.

Text:

Original Script: مفتاح البطن لقمة

Transliteration: Muftah el button lo’meh

Literal Translation: Key to the stomach is a bite

Smooth Translation: The key to the stomach is a bite

Thoughts:

I found it strange that there would be a proverb used to convince someone to eat–usually, the problem is getting someone to stop eating. My family has told me this proverb a few times too when I said I was not hungry, and usually a bite did make me hungry. It wasn’t until this week that I realized that this proverb, from the times I have heard it used, is used when the rest of the family is eating. This proverb is not said to give advice, but to protect the Arabic tradition of eating together as a family.

“A third of the kid is to his uncle” – Arabic Proverb

Context:

He heard it from his aunt in Jordan when he was a teenager. He says that the proverb means that a boy inherits a lot of his uncle’s traits.

Text:

Original Script: تلت الولد لخاله

Transliteration: Tult elwalad la khalo

Literal Translation: Third of the kid is to his uncle

Smooth Translation: A third of the kid is to his uncle

Thoughts:

I heard this proverb for the first time only recently, and I found it funny how it kind of describes me: I spent a lot of time with my uncles as a kid, and I started taking after them a bit. What interests me is that the amount is ⅓, implying that the mom and dad are the other ⅔ of the child. This proverb shows how strong family ties are even outside of the nuclear family (from what I’ve seen, this holds true: the Arabic families I know are tightly knit).