# All dialects: false friends



## xebonyx

Hello everybody, 

I wanted to get your opinions on how non-native speakers can go about preventing themselves from being offensive when speaking a specific Arabic dialect, in a different country. I guess it's impossible to learn every word that may be acceptable in one place(s), and yet could trigger an intense emotion (whether physical or verbal) in another. This came to my mind because I remember saying a phrase which others were lighthearted about, and then got an opposite reaction to someone else of a different nationality. I'm sure there are many factors that could go into this as well, such as age, past experiences, personal and/or religious beliefs. How often does it cause issues amongst Arabs themselves?

السلام عليكم
أطلب منكم أن تشتركوا رأيكم في ما متوقع من الأجانب بالإشارة عندما تستخدم لعبارات غير مقبولة بين عرب من دول مختلفة.أحيانا نحن غير مدرك لمعاني الأخرى لبعض كلمات.الموضوع خطر على بالي لأني قد أخطاءت الكلام مع أحد الأصديقائي باستخدام عبارة وردود من الأشخاص ما عليها كانت جيدة بينما لم استلم نفس رد الفعل من الآخرين.أنا متأكدة أن تكون عوامل كثيرة تحدد أنواع الردود هذة, مثلا عمر, خبرات ماضية ,معتقدات دينية و شخصية,إلخ 
كم مرة هذه مشكلة بين شعب العرب؟​


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## Haroon

Hello xebonyx, If you are just arousing issue ,  you should be more patient, but I think it is an occasional event ( the differences due to dialects difference), may happen or not , may have a serious consequences or not...waiting from others' opinions.


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## yasmeena

> How often does it cause issues amongst Arabs themselves?


Quite often. When I first left Lebanon, and haven't had much contact with Arabs of different nationalites, this used to be a major concern for me. I got myself into countless embarrassing situations, and sometimes misunderstandings that led to hard feelings or even slight problems. I remember saying a very common Lebanese expression once, which didn't have an equivalent in the Egyptian dialect, but held a very embarrassing meaning when translated literally. Those who were present kept laughing and laughing while I fought hard to hold my tears back. They still tease me about it till now. Another time I asked a friend of another nationality if she had a certain thing or not, she answered with one word which I decided to translate as a 'yes' when it actually meant a 'no'. That caused a major problem later. 

I could go on and write pages about this, but I'll tell you how I managed to get over it instead. Naturally, with time I got pretty familiar with other dialects, and I set two golden rules for myself :

1- Never use local idioms/proverbs/expressions with Arabs of different nationalities.

2- Speak as much Egyptian as possible ! (I believe it is the dialect most Arabs do not misinterpret - terms and idioms).

I sometimes even express the same thought in more than one language, like repeating in English or French what I've just said in Arabic.


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## xebonyx

Haroon said:


> Hello xebonyx, If you are just arousing issue ,  you should be more patient, but I think it is an occasional event ( the differences due to dialects difference), may happen or not , may have a serious consequences or not...waiting from others' opinions.


Thanks for your input Haroon! 


yasmeena said:


> Quite often. Naturally, with time I got pretty familiar with other dialects, and I set two golden rules for myself :
> 
> 1- Never use local idioms/proverbs/expressions with Arabs of different nationalities.
> 
> 2- *Speak as much Egyptian as possible !* (I believe it is the dialect most Arabs do not misinterpret - terms and idioms).
> 
> I sometimes even express the same thought in more than one language, like repeating in English or French what I've just said in Arabic.


Ah, very interesting advice. Thank you for your sharing what you've experienced with this. I would think that some would be patient knowing that I'm not a native speaker, but I've definitely gotten the occassional angry reaction for not knowing what implications one word may have in one dialect, that doesn't exist in another.


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## Mahaodeh

I've seen some pretty funny incidents regarding this. One was that in Iraq, the word صدرية is used for a kitchen apron, a doctor's coat and a type of dress worn with a blouse under it for girls' school uniform. In Jordan صدرية is a bra; once a friend, who was a doctor, was talking and he said "لبست الصدرية بسرعة ورحت...الخ", naturally the Jordanians around started laughing because in their understanding he just said "I put the bra on quickly...etc."
 
My brother had an incident in Yemen, he stopped a taxi and asked how much it would cost to go to a certain place, the taxi driver gave a number and my brother thought that was too much so he suggested another, the driver said ماشي and my brother thought it was OK because in most places maashi comes from مشى يمشي فهو ماشي and it means OK, but it turned out that in Yemen it comes from ما هو بشيء and it means "that's not much"!
 
I've only once come across a case where it caused a problem; an Iraqi friend in Jordan was talking to this guy and he started telling her about a few things that she did wrong, the friend said jokingly "يعني أعتبر هاي رِزَالَة", note the kasra on the raa' in رِزَالَة; with a kasra it means "to tell someone off" or in Jordanian بهدلة; they guy was very upset and he suddenly left - a couple of days later he came back to apologize saying that he thought she was saying رَزَالَة which interestingly has the same meaning in Jordan and Iraq.
 
My experience tells me to just speak normally; only avoid words that are less likely to be understood by others or words that have a meaning that differs drastically from MSA - I don't think that using Egyptian Arabic is a solution because in fact it also has many words that may be misunderstood by others.
 
Most people are understanding in my experience.


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## yasmeena

> My experience tells me to just speak normally; only avoid words that are less likely to be understood by others or words that have a meaning that differs drastically from MSA - I don't think that using Egyptian Arabic is a solution


I think this depends on the nature of your 'social life' and the situation. If you occasionally meet a couple of Arabs of different nationalities, or you already know the people, then what you've suggested is exactly what I would do. Most of my friends are not Lebanese, and I still speak perfect Lebanese with them - with as little use of local idioms as possible.

But when you live in a community of a few dozen nationalites جالية عربية, where you meet new people every day, sometimes just for once, and have to deliver a certain message to them, you find yourself willing to let go of your dialect for practicality.

Of course when I say 'speak Egyptian', I don't mean pretend you are Egyptian and go إزيك عاملة إيه ياختي . I mean use certain Egyptian terms - sometimes even idioms - which, in my experience , are widely understood. For example, I found out more than once that when I say أنا رايحة I see faces waiting for the rest of my sentence. To make my life easy, now I use أنا ماشية. Another word that always causes confusion is بكير(early) which gets mixed up with بكرا. I use بدري instead. If something seems to be wrong with someone, and I ask in my Lebanese dialect : شو إشبك , I think I would only add to her troubles  A simple مالك does the job. I sometimes even use MSA for terms like الآن.


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## Mahaodeh

yasmeena said:


> But when you live in a community of a few dozen nationalites جالية عربية, where you meet new people every day, sometimes just for once, and have to deliver a certain message to them, you find yourself willing to let go of your dialect for practicality.


 
I actually live in Dubai  so the only Arab country that I don't recall meeting anyone from as of yet is Moritania.

Anyway, what surprises me is that a Lebanese has to start using Egyptian lexicon! Levantine dialects in general are quite understandable (Lebanese songs and Syrian TV series, not to mention Lebanese talk show hosts are all over the place), plus, most of their lexicon is shared by many countries and is used in the "generic dialect" of Arabic TV advertisements.
 
I'd say that Iraqi, Yemeni, and Darja are the most difficult, followed by Sudanese - speakers of these dialects have to give up some of their more local terminology (I can think of the Iraqi قريولة as an extreme example) but the vast majority of what you say can be used without a problem.


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## ayed

It is known that the word"samm" in Saudi and some dialects connotes"yes".It means "_name what you want me to bring or do for you._

Real incident:
An Egyptian professor teaches at a Saudi College often hears most of his students respond "samm", na3am" except a student who used to answer in "samm"Whenver the professor asks that student, the student answer"samm".One day, the professor asked that student to show up at his office.

Profesor:"Why have you answered me in "samm"?
Student:"What is the problem, professor?"
profesor:"You don't think that I don't know what the word"_samm_" means?","it means "*poison*"?


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## HBZ55

[Moderator's Note: Merged with a previous thread]
Can you list examples of words that have a meaning in a specific dialect but a different meaning in another dialect, specifically where this false friendship seems funny to you.
The only thing I could think of is "yboss" in Egyptian Arabic which means "to look at" but means "fart" in Tunisian Arabic. I always laugh when I hear that one in an Egyptian movie.
Can you provide examples of some false friends but with sometimes hilariously different meanings?


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## المعتصم

l know one:
in Lebanese انت حليان means you've become more beautiful, but in Kuwaiti it means you are corroded
another thing:
in cities in Palestine - especially Nablus - children call the school canteen مقصف but some others -in villages- think that مقصف is a cannon
I might find other funny things
best wishes!


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## Abu Rashid

I heard that عافية in some north african dialect (perhaps tunisian?) means fire, so the common phrase الله يعطيك العافية doesn't sound too appealing to them.

دولاب in Egyptian is a closet, whilst in most other dialects it's a wheel.


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## azeid

Abu Rashid said:


> دولاب in Egyptian is a closet, whilst in most other dialects it's a wheel.


Thanks for this information


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## WadiH

In a previous thread people mentioned شكشوكة, which in most Arabic countries refers to an egg and tomato-based breakfast dish, but in Sudan means loose woman.



Abu Rashid said:


> دولاب in Egyptian is a closet, whilst in most other dialects it's a wheel.



Actually we (in S. Arabia) use دولاب for closet as well.


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## Mahaodeh

In Iraq it's used for a cupboard, not a closet.


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## WadiH

Tomato Tom-ah-to (we don't distinguish between the two ).


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## jemi

An other one : in Egyptian dialect الفرخ أو الفرخة means chicken or a hen but in algerian dialect and especially in my region it means illegitimate child..so it always makes us laugh when we hear it.


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## HBZ55

We use it for both meanings here in Tunisia, and that sometimes leads to some confusions.


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## azeid

jemi said:


> An other one : in Egyptian dialect الفرخ أو الفرخة means chicken or a hen but in algerian dialect and especially in my region it means illegitimate child..so it always makes us laugh when we hear it.



This is not right, " الفرخة " and its plural " الفراخ " means chickens in the Egyptian dialect and in Upper Egypt they used " فروجة " and its plural " فروج " " Farrooj" too.
But " الفرخ " is used to refer to a bad man like " ديوث " in Arabic (I don't know the proper equivalent in English) and i am not sure if some people in some regions use it to refer to  illegitimate child.


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## Abu Rashid

> In Iraq it's used for a cupboard, not a closet.



They're actually the same thing for most intents and purposes. I would normally say cupboard, but wasn't sure if all people would be familiar with the term, since it's not as universally known. So I used the more American term closet.


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## Ghabi

azeid said:


> But " الفرخ " is used to refer to a bad man like " ديوث " in Arabic (I don't know the proper equivalent in English) and i am not sure if some people in some regions use it to refer to  illegitimate child.



Good to know. It's "pimp" or "cuckold' in English.


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## kifaru

I think that may be wrong since pimp and cuckold are not at all related in english.


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## Josh_

Yes, I agree.  A cuckold is a man who knows his wife is cheating on him and condones it, at least to my knowledge.  So if a الفرخ or  ديوث is some sort of a bad man, then that would not be the correct translation into Enlgish.



Abu Rashid said:


> They're actually the same thing for most intents and purposes. I would normally say cupboard, but wasn't sure if all people would be familiar with the term, since it's not as universally known. So I used the more American term closet.


The Australian usage must be different from the American usage.  They may technically have the same denotative meaning (being used for storage and all), but they are used for different things.  A cupboard is generally found only in the kitchen areas and is for storage of utensils and and other kitchen/food related paraphernalia.  Also, a cupboard is raised off the ground and is not generally built into the frame of the house.  It is a commonly used word in American English.  A closet on the other hand is larger, usually spanning from floor to ceiling and is built into the frame of the house.

As far as the topic at hand, this is not so much funny as it is confusing.  A خوخ in Egyptian (and most dialects in which it is used, I believe) means peach, but in Syrian it is used for plums, the Syrian word for peach being درّاق.


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## Ghabi

Josh_ said:


> Yes, I agree.  A cuckold is a man who knows his wife is cheating on him and condones it, at least to my knowledge.  So if a الفرخ or  ديوث is some sort of a bad man, then that would not be the correct translation into Enlgish.



I think Azeid means "pimp", but since ديوث also refers to a "cuckold", I wrote that too by the way and forgot to clarify. My bad.


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## Abu Rashid

Josh,



> Yes, I agree. A cuckold is a man who knows his wife is cheating on him and condones it, at least to my knowledge. So if a الفرخ or ديوث is some sort of a bad man, then that would not be the correct translation into Enlgish.



ديوث is exactly what you just described. A man who feels no jealousy or honour for his wife or other female relatives, and couldn't care less if they engage in debauchery with other men.



> The Australian usage must be different from the American usage.



Yes they are different, hence the reason I used the American term, which most non-native English speakers might be more familiar with.



> A closet on the other hand is larger, usually spanning from floor to ceiling and is built into the frame of the house.



In Australian usage that is a cupboard. We don't actually really use the term closet at all. Except when advertising a house for sale/rent perhaps, we would use the term 'robe' for a closet that holds clothes, and perhaps linen closet, but in everyday usage it's almost always cupboard for all built-in storage 'chambers', except for the one in the kitchen that holds food, we call it a pantry. A free standing closet is pretty much always called a robe here, normally a wardrobe.

Note: We do use the term 'closet' in some phrases borrowed from the U.S like "in the closet" to indicate something is hidden or not public knowledge, like 'closet alcoholic'.


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## Mahaodeh

Abu Rashid said:


> They're actually the same thing for most intents and purposes. I would normally say cupboard, but wasn't sure if all people would be familiar with the term, since it's not as universally known. So I used the more American term closet.


 
Ok, I think I didn't make myself clear enough; I mean by cupboard, the kitchen cupboards or any other similar cupboard like the ones you have in dining rooms and living rooms and offices.

I understood closet to mean wardrobe (BE) = the one in the bedroom where you put your clothes. In Iraq they distinguish between the two, the first is duulaab, the second is kantoor.


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## Abu Rashid

> I mean by cupboard, the kitchen cupboards or any other similar cupboard like the ones you have in dining rooms and living rooms and offices.



I think you mean a cabinet right? A free-standing piece of furniture, rather than an in-built recess/room? Seems that is the American usage of cupboard.

As the word itself seems to suggest, it was originally just a piece of wood (board) for laying cups and things out on. So it was probably originally just used for kitchen cupboards to begin with.

I'm not 100% sure of the particular usage of دولاب amongst Egyptians, but in Australia at least, Egyptians use it for cupboard. But then again, in Australia we only use the word cupboard and not closet. So it does tend to get a little confusing 

That's why I thought I'd stick with the American-usage, as it's probably more universally known.


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## Mahaodeh

Abu Rashid said:


> I think you mean a cabinet right? A free-standing piece of furniture, rather than an in-built recess/room? Seems that is the American usage of cupboard.


 
I don't know the difference in English; but in IA being free standing or built-in is irrelevent; كنتور is used for the big wardrobe you put your clothes and fabrics (such as linenwhere or towels). دولاب is for uses other than fabrics and includes kitchen appliances, books and papers (except for bookcases), hardwhere, general storage...etc. and usually consists of shelves or compartments.


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## L.2

In Egyptian زق
means 'push' but in Saudi it means dung or _shit_​as kids we were laughing a lot when egyptians teachers said
فلانه نجحت بالزق
thought there is a difference in the two pronunciations of the word but I think everyone is aware of القاف turning into أ in Egyptian dialect.​


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## HBZ55

@L.2:
We have زق IN Tunisian too, but it's pronounced zagg, and it means bird shit.


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## L.2

Yes we too say zagg
in Saudi alQaf is pronounced as english g.
I always admire tunisian because as far as I know it's the only dialect that pronounces alQaf correctly


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## nn.om

الديوث هو الذي لا يغار على أهله. زوجته أو أمه أو أخته أو أياً كان من أهله.

"Gowwa" in the Egyptian dialect: داخل
"Gowwa" in the Kuwaiti dialect: قوة 
"Gowwa" in the Dhofari dialect: رائحة عفنة

على فكرة، يقال إن الجَوِي في العربية الفصحى يعني الرائحة العنفة.


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## WadiH

L.2 said:


> Yes we too say zagg
> in Saudi alQaf is pronounced as english g.
> I always admire tunisian because as far as I know it's the only dialect that pronounces alQaf correctly



Well, leaving aside the usual discussion of whether this pronunciation is in fact "correct" or not, I'm pretty sure Tunisian Arabic uses q=g in many words, and many dialects pronounce "qaf" as an MSA "q" almost exclusively, e.g. northern Iraq, rural Syria and Palestine (especially among the Druse and Alawites), and northern Morocco.  I might be wrong, but Algerian Arabic uses qaf=q about as often as Tunisian Arabic does.


nn.om said:


> "Gowwa" in the Kuwaiti dialect: قوة .



That brings up another example: "Gowwa" in Kuwait is a form of greeting, whereas elsewhere in the Peninsula, it means "strength."


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## nn.om

Wadi Hanifa said:


> That brings up another example: "Gowwa" in Kuwait is a form of greeting, whereas elsewhere in the Peninsula, it means "strength."


 
Well, actually in Kuwait the greeting Gowwa also means strength. They say something like "عساك عالقوة" as a greeting and a pray as well: دعاء بأن يكون المُسلَّم عليه يتمتع بقوته الصحية والمالية وغير ذلك

I am not sure about that though.


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## WadiH

Yes, there is an etymological link between the two usages, and your guess is correct.


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## HBZ55

L.2 said:


> Yes we too say zagg
> in Saudi alQaf is pronounced as english g.
> I always admire Tunisian because as far as I know it's the only dialect that pronounces alQaf correctly


9aaf is pronounced as it is most of the time, but there are some words that use g instead.
Although the 9aaf pronunciation doesn't occur in all of the country, the southern Tunisian accent uses g instead most of the time.


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## mostafa65

in western saudia arabia the word بعبوصhave volgar meaning of poking some one in the buttock with hand, while in Tunisia i think it mean a queue or line of standing people
so do not say شد البعبوص Tunisians guys?HUHUHUHUHHUHUHUH


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## HBZ55

@mostafa65:
Ba3booS actually means tail in Tunisian Arabic.


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## Razin'

And we do have the exact same vulgar meaning for the verb "بعبص" (not proud of having said it..) in Tunisian too! Interesting..


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## celestehopes

Mahaodeh said:


> My brother had an incident in Yemen, he stopped a taxi and asked how much it would cost to go to a certain place, the taxi driver gave a number and my brother thought that was too much so he suggested another, the driver said ماشي and my brother thought it was OK because in most places maashi comes from مشى يمشي فهو ماشي and it means OK, but it turned out that in Yemen it comes from ما هو بشيء and it means "that's not much"!


Could you please tell me what ماشي here means? What does the original مشى يمشي فهو ماشي that you mentioned mean? Thanks a lot!


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## hiba

ماشي in Yemeni means straight up "no"  In other dialects it means "ok/yes"


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## analeeh

مشى يمشي or مشي يمشي or various other conjugations depending on dialect means 'walk', and by extension in some dialects (Egyptian and Shami, and I think other dialects may have borrowed ماشي from Egyptian media too or had this meaning for مشي as well) something like 'be OK' or 'work'. So ماشي means 'OK' or 'it will be OK' or 'yes' (as hiba says).


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## Arabic_Police_999

hiba said:


> ماشي in Yemeni means straight up "no"  In other dialects it means "ok/yes"


it's of two parts, ما and شي not from the verb مشى


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## Hemza

hiba said:


> ماشي in Yemeni means straight up "no"  In other dialects it means "ok/yes"



In Morocco (except among Hassania speakers) and in Algeria, "ماشي" is used with a close meaning to the Yemeni one. It means "it's not", like "مو/ما" and "مش" in other dialects. Example:

"ماشي هو"= it's not him.

As an example of false friend, I would say "طبونة" in Moroccan which is a pretty vulgar word ("vagina" but with a pejorative meaning I think) while in Tunisia, it simply means "bread". I let you guess the possible diplomatic incident if a Tunisian asks a Moroccan "تحب تاكول طبونة؟"


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## 六道仙人

L.2 said:


> Yes we too say zagg
> in Saudi alQaf is pronounced as english g.
> I always admire tunisian because as far as I know it's the only dialect that pronounces alQaf correctly



I heard some Syrians use it, as well. As far as I know those from the region _*Dir-el Zour( *_on the border with Iraq_*), *_and those from Darra (درعة).


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## momai

Hemza said:


> As an example of false friend, I would say "طبونة" in Moroccan which is a pretty vulgar word ("vagina" but with a pejorative meaning I think) while in Tunisia, it simply means "bread". I let you guess the possible diplomatic incident if a Tunisian asks a Moroccan "تحب تاكول طبونة؟"


In Syria
Tabo~n is a trunk (car)
Tabune is a person's buttocks



六道仙人 said:


> I heard some Syrians use it, as well. As far as I know those from the region _*Dir-el Zour( *_on the border with Iraq_*), *_and those from Darra (درعا).


I am not quite sure about Dérelzour since it's heavily influenced by Iraqi Arabic ,but as far as I know people from Dar3a don't use it.It could be that you heard some Syrians trying to speak Khaliji or are influenced by Khaliji ,I might be wrong as well who knows .Any way, the word (if it's used somewhere in Syria)must be very rare.


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## celestehopes

Thanks everyone!


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## elroy

In Palestinian Arabic "haddi" means "calm down" but in Lebanese Arabic it means (or at least can mean) "hold onto/grab."  Very different meanings that actually led to confusion one time when a Lebanese guy held something out to me and said "haddi."  I was confused because I didn't think I needed to calm down!


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## Hemza

It's been a while since I wrote on this thread. I found it again thanks to another thread. And since then, I met what became my closest friend, an Egyptian, and... what should have occured, has occured . Hundreds of misunderstandings because of our different Arabic dialects (moreover, me not being a native speaker, it makes things harder). I speak a mix of Moroccan and Hassaniya dialect (AKA Mauritanian) which sounds bedouinish (= hard to understand, not counting the fact it is Maghrebi...).

Here a small list of all the misunderstandings which happened with him. I'll start with him and his misunderstandings about me (it's longer than mine  ):

بزبوز= this word in my dialect means "a faucet/tap" while if I'm not wrong, in Egyptian it may sound vulgar .
عيط= in my dialect, it means to call/to shout. This means to cry in Egypt.
كأس= the day I asked my friend أعطيني كأس, he told me that in Egypt, this may be understood as a glass of alcohol (but he understood me).
حوت= means fish in my dialect. I won't forgot his face the day I asked him تبغي ناكلوا حوت؟ 
حوش= means home in my dialect (beside دار/خيمة). The day I texted him: أنت قاعد في الحوش ولا برى؟ I got as a reply: "وأنا يابني معزة؟".
أيه= it means "yes" but in Egypt, "what?"
عقب= this one means "to follow" in my dialect but it is pronounced "3gab" thus more or less close to the Egyptian pronunciation of عجب which left him confused.
خش= this verb means "to hide" or "to hide something" but in Egyptian, it means "to enter".
رقد= in my dialect= to sleep. He misunderstood it with "to lay down" although it may also bear this meaning in my dialect.

Now, one of the misunderstandings I had with the Egyptian dialect:
دماغ= this word in Egypt means "head" but in my dialect, it means "brain".
بق= In Egypt, it means "mouth" but in my dialect, it means "a megaphone" .

I can't remember right now what are the others but there were definitely other misunderstandings from me too and often it ends on either funny or very awkward scenes.

This is without counting all the lexicon differences we have and we (used to) ignore about each other (although my improvement in Egyptian is much better than his improvement in understanding my speech haha).

And I keep hearing "يا نهار أسود على الكلام" when I speak or "دي شتيمة عندنا"  he's still not used to my "odd" dialect.


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## Mahaodeh

I find it interesting how some words seem to 'skip' regions!
عيط means to shout/call in Iraq, it means to call in Lebanon but not in Syria or Palestine.
حوش means house as well as courtyard in Iraq, but while it's understood in the Levant it's not used in that way and it seems to have totally skipped Egypt!
عقب pronounced 3ugub in Iraq means 'after' or 'following' (ex. عقب باكر = the day after tomorrow) and it seems to have skipped both the Levant and Egypt!
رقد also means to sleep in most gulf dialects but not in Iraq or the Levant.

----

I remembered one: دزّ = dizz in Palestinian Arabic means "to push" or "to nudge", whereas in Iraqi Arabic it means "to send".


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## momai

Mahaodeh said:


> I find it interesting how some words seem to 'skip' regions!
> عيط means to shout/call in Iraq, it means to call in Lebanon but not in Syria or Palestine.


I am not sure if this is what you meant but anyway, in Syria, عيّط means the samething as in Iraqi.


> حوش means house as well as courtyard in Iraq, but while it's understood in the Levant it's not used in that way and it seems to have totally skipped Egypt!


Interesting. When I hear the word حوش I think of something similar to بستان. Courtyard is either أرض الدار or جنينة in Syrian.


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## tounsi51

In Tunisia

يستحق to need whereas elsewhere it is to deserve
برى means go at imperative form whereas elsewhere it means go away/get out
انزل means to press whereas elsewhere it is to go down


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## Mahaodeh

momai said:


> I am not sure if this is what you meant but anyway, in Syria, عيّط means the samething as in Iraqi.



Really? I didn't know that. Thanks for the info . In Palestinian they usually don't get that and just link it with the Egyptian meaning of 'cry'.



momai said:


> Interesting. When I hear the word حوش I think of something similar to بستان. Courtyard is either أرض الدار or جنينة in Syrian.



This is the first time I hear this meaning for حوش. Just to point out, by courtyard, I mean the courtyard found in traditional houses. I don't know if this is what you mean by جنينة, but when I hear that I understand 'garden' and while these courtyards usually do have a tree or two in them, they are usually paved and can't really be considered gardens; they're also usually quite small. This is what they call حوش in Iraq, it later extended to include the whole house although بيت is still equally common.



tounsi51 said:


> برى means go at imperative form whereas elsewhere it means go away/get out



I don't recognise this word, is that the fus7a form or the dialect?


----------



## momai

Mahaodeh said:


> Just to point out, by courtyard, I mean the courtyard found in traditional houses. I don't know if this is what you mean by جنينة, but when I hear that I understand 'garden' and while these courtyards usually do have a tree or two in them, they are usually paved and can't really be considered gardens; they're also usually quite small.


 Usually, a traditional house as my parents' one has a backyard which is composed of two parts a paved one where you are surrounded with some flowerpots and the second part is an integrated "basin" ar. حوض where you find one or maybe two fruit/vegetable trees (my parents have a grape vine). So when people would go out to the backyard they say طالع عأرض الدار أو عالجنينة.


----------



## I.K.S.

The typical courtyard found inside the traditional Moroccan houses match your description, but is called riad.


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## Mahaodeh

momai said:


> Usually, a traditional house as my parents' one has a backyard which is composed of two parts a paved one where you are surrounded with some flowerpots and the second part is an integrated "basin" ar. حوض where you find one or maybe two fruit/vegetable trees (my parents have a grape vine). So when people would go out to the backyard they say طالع عأرض الدار أو عالجنينة.



No, that's an ordinary garden with a paved area. This is not what I mean by courtyard.



إتحادية قبائل الشاوية said:


> The typical courtyard found inside the traditional Moroccan houses match your description, but is called riad.



Yes, this is what I mean by courtyard. This is the حوش, in Classical Arabic it's called صحن. By the way, these courtyards exist in traditional Arab houses from Iraq to Morocco; the only Arab country that didn't have them historically is Yemen.


----------



## tounsi51

Mahaodeh said:


> I don't recognise this word, is that the fus7a form or the dialect?



Barra/برا


----------



## Mahaodeh

tounsi51 said:


> Barra/برا



Ahh, OK, I thought it would be written برة because it's a feminine form of برّ.


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## Hemza

tounsi51 said:


> In Tunisia
> 
> يستحق to need whereas elsewhere it is to deserve


خص in Morocco means "to need" (as well as also "to concern")



> انزل means to press whereas elsewhere it is to go down



For to press, I think most people would say ابرك .


----------



## I.K.S.

Hemza said:


> For to press, I think most people would say ابرك .


as ex : (joking aside) ابرك على البوطونة عافاك, I thought this word_with to press meaning_has gone extinct?


----------



## tounsi51

Mahaodeh said:


> Ahh, OK, I thought it would be written برة because it's a feminine form of برّ.



I have no idea about the correct writing  it's like bokra بكرا بكرة بكره


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## Hemza

إتحادية قبائل الشاوية said:


> as ex : (joking aside) ابرك على البوطونة عافاك, I thought this word_with to press meaning_has gone extinct?



 I can't speak for all Moroccan areas but in Fès, it is still frequent but we never use it to say "to seat down" like in the West , only "to press on something".

In Hassaniya, we say سند على (sannad 3ala) but this also means "to lean on"


----------



## Hemza

Mahaodeh said:


> I find it interesting how some words seem to 'skip' regions!
> حوش means house as well as courtyard in Iraq, but while it's understood in the Levant it's not used in that way and it seems to have totally skipped Egypt!



Actually, حوش does exist in Egypt but it means "courtyard" (in front of a home). I think in rural areas in Morocco it also bear this meaning yet in bedouin areas, it also means "home".


> رقد also means to sleep in most gulf dialects but not in Iraq or the Levant.



I didn't know. My Palestinian mates laughed at me when I used it  they told me it is only used for a chicken covering her eggs.


----------



## I.K.S.

Hemza said:


> In Hassaniya, we say سند على (sannad 3ala) but this also means "to lean on"


سند على = "to lean on"  in rural West.


----------



## cherine

حوش is used in Egypt with the meaning of فِناء, so it's also used for فناء المدرسة.
As for بَرَك it's mostly used for camels. When it's used figuratively for people, it means that a person fell on the ground without force, and it's not commonly known by the young generation.


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## Hemza

Another occurence of a misunderstanding with my Egyptian friend (but it happened a whiiiile ago, from me): the verb خشّ which means "to enter" in Egyptian (دخل in my dialect) but "to hide/to hide something" in my dialect.

But in the North of Morocco if I'm not wrong, خشّ (as well as دخّل) means "to make something enter into something else".


----------



## Mahaodeh

I've never heard it used verbally, however, I do remember reading a book for Najib Mahfouth about a rural family from upper Egypt, in it the hero was telling a maid to hide something, I remember clearly what was written: خُشيها هنا but the context clearly indicated that he was telling her to hide it. So I guess that it's not unheard of in Egypt, at least at the time the book was written.


----------



## cherine

Mahaodeh said:


> I've never heard it used verbally, however, I do remember reading a book for Najib Mahfouth about a rural family from upper Egypt, in it the hero was telling a maid to hide something, I remember clearly what was written: خُشيها هنا but the context clearly indicated that he was telling her to hide it. So I guess that it's not unheard of in Egypt, at least at the time the book was written.


This needs a bit more context, Maha. Are you sure you're remembering this correctly? Which novel was it?


----------



## Mahaodeh

I remember the phrase because it was the first (probably the only) time I see it used in this way. However, I don't recall the name of the book. I only remember small parts of the story and not the whole one. I read it as a teenager, so it is possible that my memory is playing tricks on me.


----------



## elroy

Mahaodeh said:


> عقب pronounced 3ugub in Iraq means 'after' or 'following' (ex. عقب باكر = the day after tomorrow) and it seems to have skipped both the Levant and Egypt!


 عقب is used with this meaning in the Galilee, but it’s much less common than بعد or ورا.

It always throws me off when Moroccans use حتى for “also,” because it means “even” in Palestinian.  For example, if I say أنا جوعان and a Moroccan answers حتى أنا, it sounds like “Even I’m hungry!”, as though it were a huge deal for this person to be hungry.  It sounds ridiculous.   I think other dialects use حتى for “also” as well.

Other false friends:

لبن: “yogurt” in Palestinian, “milk” in Egyptian. The Egyptian usage will *never* grow on me.  قهوة مع لبن sounds nasty. 

فراخ: “young birds” in Palestinian, “chicken” in Egyptian

عيش: “bread” in Egyptian, not really used in Palestinian but it sounds like “living”

عايز: “want” in Egyptian, “need” in Palestinian

صباح: “forehead” in Palestinian, “morning” in other dialects

حقي: “my” in some dialects, “my right” in Palestinian

حلو: “sweet” or “beautiful” in Palestinian, “tasty” in other dialects

Here’s one that I think @Mahaodeh would appreciate: هواي means “a lot” in Iraqi and ضربة in Palestinian.  So أكلت هواي means “I ate a lot” in Iraqi and “I got a beating” in Palestinian!


----------



## Mahaodeh

elroy said:


> Here’s one that I think @Mahaodeh would appreciate: هواي means “a lot” in Iraqi and ضربة in Palestinian. So أكلت هواي means “I ate a lot” in Iraqi not “I got a beating” in Palestinian!



 This reminds me of another one that works the other way: بسط in Palestinian means to be happy/glad/comfortable whereas in Iraqi it means to hit/beat up someone. It's interesting that both come from Classical Arabic idiomatic expression: انبسطت اساريره and بسط عليه يده (ليضربه).


----------



## tounsi51

In Tunisia مبسوط means rich whereas in other dialects it means happy

سيب pronounced sayeb means to drop, to let go of, to release; in Egypt it means to let


----------



## Hemza

elroy said:


> It always throws me off when Moroccans use حتى for “also,” because it means “even” in Palestinian.  For example, if I say أنا جوعان and a Moroccan answers حتى أنا, it sounds like “Even I’m hungry!”, as though it were a huge deal for this person to be hungry.  It sounds ridiculous.   I think other dialects use حتى for “also” as well.



I never had any problem using حتى أنا to say "me too", even with my Palestinian mates hahah but I can understand the misunderstanding with the meaning it bears in Palestinian. On the other way, when I say أنا بعد (another way of saying "me too") no one understands me except the Iraqis.




> Other false friends:
> لبن: “yogurt” in Palestinian, “milk” in Egyptian. The Egyptian usage will *never* grow on me.  قهوة مع لبن sounds nasty.



I faced a similar situation with my Egyptian friend: لبن in Morocco is fermented milk while حليب is milk.



> فراخ: “young birds” in Palestinian, “chicken” in Egyptian



In Morocco, those are young chicken (pronunced فريخ) but when you want to eat it, you say دجاج. Of course, the first time my friend told me فراخ I needed sometimes before I get he was talking about دجاج. We also use فروج for "rooster" and I think صعايدة also use this word.


> عيش: “bread” in Egyptian, not really used in Palestinian but it sounds like “living”



The first time he told me عيش what came to my mind is كسكس. We call bread خبز.


> عايز: “want” in Egyptian, “need” in Palestinian



العازة means "to be in need" but we don't use the verb as far as I know.



> حقي: “my” in some dialects, “my right” in Palestinian



حق sounds "7agg" in my dialect ("right" or often a way of saying "yes") but it sounds like حج in Egyptian.



> حلو: “sweet” or “beautiful” in Palestinian, “tasty” in other dialects



What threw me off with Palestinians is زاكي to which the closest word I know is ذكي. No need to say the first time I heard one of my Palestinian mates saying كتير زاكي about food, I thought she was joking, I thought she was saying it was smart .



tounsi51 said:


> In Tunisia مبسوط means rich whereas in other dialects it means happy



Being rich=being happy?


----------



## I.K.S.

Hemza said:


> I faced a similar situation with my Egyptian friend: لبن in Morocco is fermented milk while حليب is milk.


I'm not really exposed to Eastern dialects, but when I knew Egyptians use لبن for what we call حليب (both usages are correct according to standard Arabic btw) I decided to compare other dairy products in both dialects, and found out this Interlock.
Moroccan _____ Egyptian           
حليب ____ Milk  ____  *لبن
لبن  ___  *Buttermilk  ___ _رايب
رايب ____  _Yogurt  ___  زبادي
زبدة ____  Butter  ____    *سمن
سمن  ___  *salted butter    ?


----------



## tounsi51

Yogurt in Morocco isn't called danone?


----------



## I.K.S.

hhh, and detergent powder is called Tide, you're right but I meant the traditional one that we make at home.


----------



## Hemza

إتحادية قبائل الشاوية said:


> I'm not really exposed to Eastern dialects, but when I knew Egyptians use لبن for what we call حليب (both usages are correct according to standard Arabic btw) I decided to compare other dairy products in both dialects, and found out this Interlock.



Oh I have plenty of this kind, where we talk about food but no one understand the other because the same word is used for two different things 

About that, another one:

خشم means "nose" in my dialect (beside نيف/منخار) but the first time I used it, my Egyptian friend understood it as mouth (of an animal) .


----------



## Mahaodeh

إتحادية قبائل الشاوية said:


> زبدة ____ Butter ____ *سمن*



I thought Egyptians also use زبدة for butter?!

I think dairy products are worth a look in more than one dialect:

English ___ Moroccan ____Egyptian ___Palestinian ____ Iraqi
Milk ________حليب ________حليب ________ *لبن* ________  حليب
Buttermilk ___ ؟؟؟ _________؟؟؟ _________رايب ________ لبن
Yogurt ______ لبن أو روبة ________لبن ________ زبادي ________لبن
Butter ________ زبد _________ زبدة _________ ؟؟ ________زبدة
Salted butter  ___ زبد _________ زبدة _________ ؟؟ _______سمنة
fat or lard ___ دهن ________ سمنة _________ ؟؟؟ _________؟؟؟
P.S. I have no idea what buttermilk is and the Wikipedia article didn't really help - since I don't know what it is I guess I can't translate it but just a guess, it might be مخيض in P.A. and I have no idea at all in I.A.


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## Hemza

By "buttermilk", I think my fellow @*إتحادية قبائل الشاوية* means "fermented milk" which has a thicker texture than regular milk and has a soft sour taste.

Small corrections for the Moroccan part:
سمن (masculine) and رايب is yogurt, not لبن . As for "fat", it is (شحم(ة


----------



## Mahaodeh

Hemza said:


> خشم means "nose" in my dialect (beside نيف/منخار) but the first time I used it, my Egyptian friend understood it as mouth (of an animal) .



I hear it means a 'human mouth' in Sudanese. If so, it might be quite awkward if you went to a Sudanese dentist who would say to you: افتح خشمك عشان اشوف!


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## tounsi51

خشم means also nose in Tunisia, eastern Algeria and in the Gulf countries.


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## Hemza

tounsi51 said:


> خشم means also nose in Tunisia, eastern Algeria and in the Gulf countries.



Add Libya, Mauritania and Saudi Arabia to this.


----------



## elroy

خشم/خشوم=nose is also used in the Galilee.


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## tounsi51

In TA the verb كشخ means to sulk but in Emirati Arabic it means to be well-groomed (I am not wrong) and كشخة beautiful

Edit: Found new meanings in Em. Arabic: 
Literally means: Cool, Great

eg. I loved the dancing fountains! The show was kashkha! Also used to mean dressed up, fashionable, posh, luxurious

It's funny when I read صباح الخشخة​


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## Mahaodeh

كشخة in Iraqi Arabic means posh or classy.


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## tounsi51

Something I always find funny

In Morocco and Algeria, paint is صبيغة whereas paint in Tunisia is دهن and صبيغة is dye

الجو in Morocco and Algeria is the weather, in Tunisia the weather is الطقس and جو is the ambience/atmosphere


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## Hemza

Actually it is "صباغة", no Tunisian إمالة here haha. I think the word دهن which basically means "fat/grease" is used for paint because a lot of paints are made with different kind of oils, hence the use of دهن. We don't make the distinction between paint and dye.
جو can mean weather and ambience, طقس is also used but only for weather. It doesn't differ from Tunisian. I talk for Morocco but I guess Algeria is similar on these aspects


----------



## tounsi51

دهن  (dohn) is the Tunisian pronunciation of دهان which means paint in MSA. We pronounce it that way to differentiate from دهان (dehen) which is painter (we also use بياض)

دهن  is MSA for fat

I never heard Moroccan saying طقس unless you mean MSA for météo? Do you say الجو بارد  don't you? In TA we would say el ta9s bered or denya berda


----------



## Hemza

tounsi51 said:


> دهن  (dohn) is the Tunisian pronunciation of دهان which means paint in MSA. We pronounce it that way to differentiate from دهان (dehen) which is painter (we also use بياض)



صباغ (Sabbaagh) is painter in Morocco.



> I never heard Moroccan saying طقس unless you mean MSA for météo? Do you say الجو بارد  don't you? In TA we would say el ta9s bered or denya berda



الطقس بارد isn't spread yet we may use "طقس" alone but for your examples, we would say الدنيا باردة or الجو بارد.


----------



## tounsi51

Hemza said:


> صباغ (Sabbagh) is painter in Morocco.



Don't you use بياض as well when it comes to a house painter?


----------



## Hemza

tounsi51 said:


> Don't you use بياض as well when it comes to a house painter?



I don't know. I never heard it but it may exist, other Moroccans here know better than me.


----------



## Mahaodeh

طقس in Palestinian means weather, جوّ means climate. In Iraqi it's commonly the opposite. I almost always get corrected by someone whichever I use!


----------



## Tilmeedh

Here are a couple false friends I've become aware of:

" نطر " 'naTar' means 'to wait' in Lebanese but 'to flick' in Egyptian.

" تروّق " 'trawwa2' means 'to have breakfast' in Lebanese but " روّق " or " تروّق " 'rawwa2/trawwa2' means something like 'to tidy up' in Egyptian.



yasmeena said:


> Quite often. When I first left Lebanon, and haven't had much contact with Arabs of different nationalites, this used to be a major concern for me. I got myself into countless embarrassing situations, and sometimes misunderstandings that led to hard feelings or even slight problems. I remember saying a very common Lebanese expression once, which didn't have an equivalent in the Egyptian dialect, but held a very embarrassing meaning when translated literally. Those who were present kept laughing and laughing while I fought hard to hold my tears back. They still tease me about it till now.



If I might ask, what Lebanese phrase did you employ that caused this situation? Since I'm learning that dialect, I'd like to avoid possible difficulties...


----------



## elroy

Tilmeedh said:


> " تروّق " 'trawwa2' means 'to have breakfast' in Lebanese but " روّق " or " تروّق " 'rawwa2/trawwa2' means something like 'to tidy up' in Egyptian.


 In Palestinian روّق means “calm down.”  Is this a three-way false friend?!


----------



## cherine

Tilmeedh said:


> " تروّق " 'trawwa2' means 'to have breakfast' in Lebanese but " روّق " or " تروّق " 'rawwa2/trawwa2' means something like 'to tidy up' in Egyptian.


رَوَّق = to calm down
رَوَّق البيت / المكان = to tidy up
رَوَّق حد = to give him a tough talk, make him know his mistakes and blame him hard for them; to give someone a hard time.
There are two maSdars:
رَوَقان = calming down, putting all troubles behind you and enjoying yourself/your time. It also mean no caring about anything.
تَرْوِيق = tidying up; giving someone hard time.

The adjective رايق raaye2 means:
to be forgetful of anthing, to be disregarding troubles.
دا واحد رايق مفيش في دماغه حاجة/مش شاغل باله بحاجة
And: to be in a good mood, to be free/not busy
لو عايز تطلب من المدير حاجة، استنى لما يبقى رايق


----------



## Hemza

صبوح in Hassaniya means "breakfast" (beside فطور) but some may confuse it with صبح (although it is linked).
فيسع in Maghrebi dialects means "right now/quickly" but Tunisians (@tounsi51  ) seem to pronounce it فيسا and it sounds like an Egyptian word...  I leave Egyptians commenting about that  
فتر (and the adjective فترا) means "tired" but every single person with who I used this word misunderstood it as فطر so I avoid it and use عيان.



cherine said:


> The adjective رايق raaye2 means:
> to be forgetful of anything, to be disregarding troubles.



You just shed light on this mysterious word my friend uses and I've never until now, understood its meaning (he sometimes says دماغي رايقة or something like this).


----------



## elroy

Hemza said:


> فتر (and the adjective فترا) means "tired" but every single person with who I used this word misunderstood it as فطر so I avoid it and use عيان.


 عيان means “sick” in Palestinian.


----------



## Hemza

elroy said:


> عيان means “sick” in Palestinian.



 Oh true, in Egyptian too hence at the beginning, I always had to add that it means "tired" in Morocco (مريض is used for ill) because I use to get as a reply الف سلامة عليك hahaha


----------



## Hemza

عافية which means "peace" in Hassaniya dialect but in the rest of Morocco (according to the context) it can mean "fire" . I heard it is was also the case in the rest of the Maghreb but this meaning only remained in Morocco today. Oddly, the expression عافاك is wiiidely used across Morocco to mean "please".

 زفت. In Hassaniya, it means plastic while in the rest of Morocco, it is asphalt.



Mahaodeh said:


> عقب pronounced 3ugub in Iraq means 'after' or 'following' (ex. عقب باكر = the day after tomorrow) and it seems to have skipped both the Levant and Egypt!



I completely forgot, we do use عاقب (3aageb) to say "after" but as I'm much more used to من بعد, that's why I forgot it  because I avoid using it since few people get it on the first instance.


----------



## elroy

Mahaodeh said:


> English ___ Moroccan ____Egyptian ___Palestinian ____ Iraqi
> Milk ________حليب ________حليب ________ *لبن* ________ حليب
> Buttermilk ___ ؟؟؟ _________؟؟؟ _________رايب ________ لبن
> Yogurt ______ لبن أو روبة ________لبن ________ زبادي ________لبن
> Butter ________ زبد _________ زبدة _________ ؟؟ ________زبدة
> Salted butter ___ زبد _________ زبدة _________ ؟؟ _______سمنة
> fat or lard ___ دهن ________ سمنة _________ ؟؟؟ _________؟؟؟


 I think "buttermilk" is لبن مخيض in Palestinian. (There's also لبن رايب, but I'm not totally sure what that is.)  سمنة is specifically "ghee," isn't it?


----------



## ayed

لبن رايب = churned milk


----------



## Hemza

elroy said:


> I think "buttermilk" is لبن مخيض in Palestinian. (There's also لبن رايب, but I'm not totally sure what that is.)  سمنة is specifically "ghee," isn't it?



In Morocco, the word is masculine (سمن) and refers to "ghee" only. This usage crosses Egypt/Sudan then (without stopping).


----------



## Hemza

*نو *in Morocco and Algeria (Tunisia also?) means "rain" while in Yemeni, it means "clouds".
*ازار *in Morocco means "sheet" (for covering oneself to sleep) and in Yemen, it's a piece of cloth you wrap around your waist to cover the lower half of the body.
Another one which didn't come my mind until now is *بيت*: in Morocco, it means "room" (بيت النعاس, بيت الراحة etc) while in many other, it means "home".

(Source: a Yemeni I met few times ago we started discussing about that matter).


----------



## elroy

ناصح
Palestinian: fat
Egyptian: smart/clever


----------



## akhooha

Back in the early 80s in Yemen, one had to make international phone calls through the post office. I went with an Egyptian friend of mine so he could call his wife. After a few times of him going to the counter and then waiting, nothing happened. Finally he told me that the guy at the counter kept telling him ماشي which to his mind meant "OK, going through". I explained to him that in Sanaani the guy was saying  ما شيء ---- meaning "nothing ---- (not working)"


----------



## Hemza

In Morocco قشّ means "straw" while in some Algerian areas, I discovered it means "clothes" .

هزّ in the Maghreb means "to lift" (beside رفد) while in other dialects it means "to shake" (حرّك or ساس in Morocco).

ريحان means "myrrh" in the Maghreb but "basil" in some other dialects (we call basil حبق)

مزروب (from زرب/سرب in MSA) in the Maghreb means "to be in a hurry" while in Egypt it's vulgar 

عجلة in Egypt means "bike" while in most other places it is understood as "wheel".

حطّة in Palestine means kufiya while in some rural Moroccan dialects, it means "house" .

بقى/يبقى means "to stay/to remain/to keep doing" in Morocco and in most dialects I think. In Egypt it means "to become".

ولّى/رجع in Morocco means "to come/get back" and "to become" (beside صبح for "to become") while in most dialects it means "to come/get back".

ردّ means "to reply/to give back" and in Morocco it also means "to put back something" (I.e. ردّ الكتاب لموضعته) while in Libya, it means "to come back" (نرّدوا بعد الفصل).


----------



## I.K.S.

Hemza said:


> حطّة in Palestine means kufiya while in some rural Moroccan dialects, it means "house" .


It is an expression, originally it means tent pitching, it goes back to the days of semi_nomadic lifestyle.


----------



## Hemza

I.K.S. said:


> It is an expression, originally it means tent pitching, it goes back to the days of semi_nomadic lifestyle.


واليوم الناس ما بقاوا يستخدموا الكلمة؟ أنا شخصيا ما عمري سمعتها حيث ماني من الغرب ,ولكن قريتها على شي موقع​


----------



## I.K.S.

لا مستعملة غالبا في القرى كمجاز وطرفة، نسمعهم الواحد لا شرى دار جديدة كيقولو له "مبروك الحطة" مثلا


----------



## fenakhay

We say قشاوش (plural of قش) for "things; clothes".

جمع قشاوشك لا يشوفوهم الضياف. (jma3 qshaawshek la yshuufuuhum eD-Dyaaf)

غنطبخ قشاوش الدجاجة اللي دبحتها البارح باش ما نضيعوش نعمة ربي. (gha-natbukh qshaawesh ed-djaaja lli dba7tha l-baare7 baash ma nDayy3uushi na3met rabbi)


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## Hemza

fenakhay said:


> We say قشاوش (plural of قش) for "things; clothes".


شكرا. معلومة جديدة ما كنت نعرفها بالكل. جملتك الأخيرة ضحّكتني ههههههه


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## Hemza

مازيان means "good, nice" in Morocco and "beautiful" in Tunisia.

قلّب in Morocco means "to turn something over" or "to look for" (it has synonyms) while in other dialects it means "to turn something over"

غادي in Morocco and Western Algeria means "going" while in Eastern Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Western Egypt, it means "over there".

وقع means "to happen" in Morocco and "to fall" in Egypt.

بلّع in Eastern Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia means "to close" (it has synonyms) while بلع in other dialects means "to swallow".

ذراري from Morocco to Libya means "kids" while in Yemen it means "animal offsprings" .

رجى/يرجى= to expect in Morocco, to wait in Libya and Eastern Morocco (and certainly Western Algeria).


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## I.K.S.

Hemza said:


> قلّب in Morocco means "to turn something over" or "to look for" (it has synonyms) while in other dialects it means "to turn something over"


The interesting part here is  قلّب على with the ق means "to look for" while the same verb with rural pronunciation; ''gelleb'' means "to keep turning sth. over".


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## raamez

Iraqi على باله means _he thinks_
,while in Syrian it means _he wishes_


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## Hemza

raamez said:


> Iraqi على باله means _he thinks_


In Eastern Morocco/Western Algeria, it means "he thinks/he knows".


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## tounsi51

Hemza said:


> بلّع in Eastern Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia means "to close" (it has synonyms) while بلع in other dialects means "to swallow".



In Tunisia both meanings exist, بلّع and ابلع. we only use بلّع to say بلّع  فمك


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## WannaBFluent

raamez said:


> Iraqi على باله means _he thinks_
> ,while in Syrian it means _he wishes_


Not necessarily.

شو قالتلي حماتي ما إجت *على بالي*
Whatever my mother-in-law says, I don't care.

شو *على بالك* ؟
What's on your mind ? What's wrong with you ?

خطر *على بالي* فلان
I've just recalled (someone) (right now, suddenly).



Hemza said:


> ردّ means "to reply/to give back" and in Morocco it also means "to put back something" (I.e. ردّ الكتاب لموضعته) while in Libya, it means "to come back" (نرّدوا بعد الفصل).


It also can mean '_to reply/give back_' and '_to put back something_' in Syria as well as many other things.

'_to reject (a letter, an offer, a favor, etc), to refuse (a parcel, a delivery, a letter, etc), to push back, to close (a door), to let fall back (curtains, one's clothing), to cover/wrap something with a clothing item, to protect from the sun/from humidity_' and also '_to prompt, whisper (an answer, someone's text, etc)_'.


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## Mahaodeh

raamez said:


> Iraqi على باله means _he thinks_
> ,while in Syrian it means _he wishes_


I would say that the meaning of _he wishes_ is understood figuratively in this case: he’s thinking of something because he wants it so much.

In fact, I’d say that both meanings exist in both dialects.


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## Hemza

In Tunisia, I discovered that سخانة means "hot/warm weather". In Morocco, it means "fever" (at least where I come from) .

Edit: سخونية means "fever" in Egypt and Sudan while it means "warmness/heat" in Morocco.


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## tounsi51

سخانة  means heat and fever in Tunisian Arabic

If I am not mistaken it also means heat in Egyptian and Sudanese Arabic


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## Hemza

بنّة in Eastern Libya means "smell" while in the rest of the Maghreb, I think it mainly means "taste" and "smell" (nouns) though both are linked.


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## Hemza

Today I learnt that in Egypt, حاذق means "salty" . In Morocco, this is used mostly in the feminine to speak about a woman who manages well her household.


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## cherine

Just to make it clearer, it's pronounced with a دال, so 7aade2 حادق, and the degree of saltness is 7odo2eyya حدوقية. 


tounsi51 said:


> سخانة  means heat and fever in Tunisian Arabic
> 
> If I am not mistaken it also means heat in Egyptian and Sudanese Arabic


I don't remember hearing anyone use سخانة, but we have sokhuuna سخونة for heat (and sometimes used as a metaphor for enthusiasm) but حَرّ is more common when talking about the weather being hot. and sokhoneyya سخونية for fever.


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## Hemza

cherine said:


> Just to make it clearer, it's pronounced with a دال, so 7aade2 حادق, and the degree of saltness is 7odo2eyya حدوقية.


7aadga or 7aadhga in Morocco (mostly in the feminine).


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## Aloulu

Hemza said:


> فيسع in Maghrebi dialects means "right now/quickly" but Tunisians (@tounsi51  ) seem to pronounce it فيسا and it sounds like an Egyptian word...  I leave Egyptians commenting about that



I recently found out that in a Yemeni dialect they also say "fisa/fisa3" meaning "quickly" through a video on youtube on which a Yemeni gave some typical words of his dialect and this was one of them. Me being Tunisian was surprised, i didnt even know Moroccans are familiar with the same word. Speaking to non-Tunisians i always skipped this word and use a more fus7a word like bi sor3a to make sure its understood. Even towards fellow Maghrebis.


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## Hemza

@Aloulu some Yemeni dialects use فيسع and غدوة حوت جلجلان and a looot of words used in the Maghreb. In Oman as well فيسع is used. And indeed it is used in Morocco so no worry you can go for it.


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## Hemza

In most dialects, دار means "house" but in Libya and apparently in Kuwait, it means "bedroom".


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## WadiH

In the Peninsula دار can also mean one's country/homeland/hometown.


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