# Egyptian Arabic: دي بتقول عليا الحكواتي



## Txukiya

Hello,

I don't get the meaning of "دي بتقول عليا الحكواتي", I know what hakawati is, and I think عليا is graduate. Could you please help me?

Thanks a lot


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## إسكندراني

دي she
بتقول says
عليا about me
الحكواتي stories


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## ayed

She labels me(calls me)as a story teller.


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## Txukiya

Thank you very much.


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## Tracer

*دي بتقول عليا الحكواتي*

I wonder if this sentence is as ''innocent" as it sounds.
============

The sentence: *"My mother was a great story-teller"* means, of course, that my mother used to read me fables and stories when I was a child (usually to try to get me to sleep).

But I don't think *الحكواتي* quite means the same thing here.

Most likely it means something like _*"She calls me a fibber"*_ (a mild kind of liar) or a *rumormonger*......someone that goes around telling stories about other people, starting rumors and so on.

So my translation for this phrase would be:

*She says I'm a fibber.* or *She says I'm a rumormonger.*

*She's not complimenting him.* Just the opposite....she's telling people to watch out for him....you can't really believe what he says.

I'm assuming that in EA *الحكواتي* can mean someone that starts rumors.

*More "context" would have helped to decipher the precise meaning, of course.*
===========

_O sea, Txuiya, ella lo esta llamando un mentiroso o un charlador....una persona que "cuenta cuentos" de otros con fin de hacerle algun danio._


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## Txukiya

Thank you Tracer, I didn't know you can use *الحكواتي* with that meaning. But due to the context (you are right, I should explained the context as well) I think the meaning is the "innocent" one.

Muchas gracias


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## clevermizo

Txukiya said:


> Thank you Tracer, I didn't know you can use *الحكواتي* with that meaning. But due to the context (you are right, I should explained the context as well) I think the meaning is the "innocent" one.
> 
> Muchas gracias



What is the context? I doubt it could have an "innocent" meaning. Referring to another person as دي or ده "that one" is, I believe, quite insulting in this dialect.


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## Txukiya

I read this on Facebook, and the conversation was:

A: Waiting for the day to see her and speak to her in Arabic.
B: Is she learning Arabic?
A: دي بتقول عليا الحكواتي!!!

The woman they are talking about wrote in a photograph of A "الحكواتي" as he looked like a story teller.


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## Tracer

Txukiya said:


> I read this on Facebook, and the conversation was:
> 
> A: Waiting for the day to see her and speak to her in Arabic.
> B: Is she learning Arabic?
> A: دي بتقول عليا الحكواتي!!!
> 
> The woman they are talking about wrote in a photograph of A "الحكواتي" as he looked like a story teller.


 
Thanks, Txukiya for the fuller context. Unfortunately, it still is unclear to me what is meant.

1. I don't know what a* "story teller"* looks like.

2. I'm not sure if *حكواتي* can be translated as a "rumor-monger". If *حكواتي means and can only mean* a "story-teller", then that's the answer. If it can commonly have another interpretation like "rumor-monger" or "blabber-mouth", then we'd have to ask the writer exactly what he meant.


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## Josh_

I'm not sure I completely understand it either. What I further don't understand is, if someone is calling someone else a storyteller (or whatever الحكواتي refers to tin this context), why is it definite. I would expect دي بتقول عليا حكواتي. 



clevermizo said:


> What is the context? I doubt it could have an "innocent" meaning. Referring to another person as دي or ده "that one" is, I believe, quite insulting in this dialect.


Actually, that's not ture. Using 'di' and 'da' is a normal and common way to refer to a person whose name is not mentioned for whatever reason. It is used the same way we would use 'he' or 'she' in English:

_She went to the store and bought a blouse._
_di raaHit il-maHall wi-shtarit bluuza._

_He works as a manager at a bank._
_da byishtaghal mudiir fi bank._

I used to think it seemed insulting, but realized that was a little L1 interference on my part; I was applying my understanding of English (in which referring to someone as "that one" would be insulting) to the Arabic.


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## إسكندراني

الحكوّاتي in the definite form here is like saying 'mister storyteller';
(I didnt recognise the word at first but 7ekewwaatii doesn't seem restricted to negative meaning in my mind)
compare with بيقولوا عليّا الكبير


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## Josh_

Yes, that makes sense. Thanks for clarifying, إسكندراني.


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## إسكندراني

Josh_ said:


> Yes, that makes sense. Thanks for clarifying, إسكندراني.


Pleasure!
(especially since my first answer was off)


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## Tracer

Hi - 

I continue to feel that *"story-teller"* is not what is meant by the term *حكواتي* here. _*(I know that's what it says....I'm just not sure that that's what it means).*_

*"Story-teller"* commonly means*"someone who tells stories".....a narrator, a raconteur, a راوٍ* ". It also has the secondary meaning_ (according to my dictionary)_ of a "liar" or "fibber" which I previously mentioned.

And.....at first..... that's what I thought *حكواتي* meant, so I gave the translation of the phrase in question as: *"She says I'm a fibber".*

But given the context in which it is found, none of these really works;*not story-teller, fibber, narrator, liar or راوٍ .* 

It means - in English - something else.

The context is:

*A: Waiting for the day to see her and speak to her in Arabic.*

*B: Is she learning Arabic?*

*A: دي بتقول عليا الحكواتي !!!*

*ANALYSIS:*

A says he can hardly wait to speak to her in Arabic.

B wonders if she's learning Arabic *(so that A can eventually talk to her in Arabic).*

and then A responds by exclaiming (notice original !!! marks)

A: *(How can she not be learning Arabic?)* *She (even) calls me the (a) ............?????*


*motormouth, blabbermouth, yapper, loudmouth, jabberer, chatterbox, windbag, etc*. = people who never stop talking.

So my favorite is now *WINDBAG*.....someone who talks and talks endlessly.

*"She (even) calls me the (a) windbag."* _*(and so she will definitely learn Arabic thanks to my endless talking).*_


That's what *حكواتي* means here......... A *"windbag"* not a *"storyteller"*


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## Tracer

*ADDENDUM*

A "storyteller" is not someone who talks and talks endlessly...... but that is precisely the nuance the speaker (A) is trying to get across.

A good MSA synomym for *حكواتي* as per my interpretation of someone who talks and talks is perhaps * ثرثار*


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## Josh_

تواردت خواطرنا يا ترايسير. ـ

I still am not sure if that is the correct interpretation, but that thought actually occurred to me as well.


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## Ustaath

There will always be speculation on this issue. As a native Arab, who has occasionally taken the role of حكواتي
I can only say that it is rarely used negatively as there are other words for that using ح ك ي such as حكوجي with the Turkish influence for possessive ( ji) which mean talkative/ chatterbox/ tattle tale
from what has been posted I would say 'A" implies:
(does she speak Arabic? She even tagged me in a photo as a 'story teller! (implied: she knows quite a bit about Arabic culture )
But it's speculation unless we have the whole picture which is unrealistic.
Regardless, it seems just in terms of scarcity of using الحكواتي in negative connotations, and the relative informal use of Arabic in these kind of posts, that we would be reading more into it if we assume a negative meaning.


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## Tracer

In "colloquial" USA English, I personally would say:

He's a *real talker*. (meaning  He'll talk your head off).  It does not necessarily have a negative meaning.  He just talks a lot.


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