# All dialects: Psychiatric hospital



## raful

Hello to you all
How would you say in your dialect Psychiatric Hospital? I'm referring to slang usage.
For example, I've heard the term عصفورية in a few Palestinian districts.


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## fenakhay

Normal word: سبيطار الحماق (sbīTār el-7ummāq) 
Slang: 36 (sitta w tlātīn)


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## cherine

fenakhay said:


> Normal word: سبيطار الحماق (sbīTār el-7ummāq)


If by "normal" you mean standard, then the word I know in FuS7a is مستشفى الأمراض العقلية for the mental hospital, and مستشفى الأمراض النفسية for the psychiatric one.

In Egypt, the slang words are taken from the neighborhood where the hospital is located, so it's العَبَّاسية in Cairo (and most of Egypt of course, as Cairo is the capital and everyone has heard of the hospital in العباسية), and in Alexandria it's المَعْمورة.
Another word in EA is morestan موريستان (of course from the old word الماريستان which meant hospitals in general).


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## fenakhay

We are talking about dialects here 😀


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## analeeh

العصفورية is used everywhere in the Levant as far as I know. Like the Egyptian examples, it actually refers to a real place.


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## Mahaodeh

I think العصفورية was a neighborhood in Beirut where the first hospital was built, but I’m not sure.

In Iraq it’s الشمّاعيّة, but this is because in Iraq the phrase مشمّع الخيط is (or at least was until the 1980s) an idiom for someone that has lost his “normal” mental abilities. There was never a hospital in Iraq that was called مستشفى الشماعية, nor is there a neighborhood called الشماعية as far as I know.


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## Hemza

fenakhay said:


> Normal word: سبيطار الحماق (sbīTār el-7ummāq)
> Slang: 36 (sitta w tlātīn)


سبيطار المهابيل as well
I know مارستان (for instance, مارستان سيدي فرج in Fes) but I feel like many young Moroccans don't know it (or am I old fashioned?).

سيدي فرج خالي والديور عامرين  all the crazy folks got released.


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## tounsi51

In Tunisian Arabic we use منوبة because the hospital is located in the city of Manouba


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## bearded

Nowhere anything similar to مستشفى _المجانين_?


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## Mahaodeh

Actually سبيطار الحماق and سبيطار المهابيل literally mean مستشفى المجانين, don’t they?

Anyhow, مستشفى المجانين is understood and used colloquially in Iraq and the Levant, and I think Egypt too. But I thought the thread was about idioms used to refer to it. Isn’t it?


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## djara

In Tunisian, we also say نومرو أربعة because bus line #4 leads to Manouba (where the hospital is). Also, some people still say مرستان murstan.


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## bearded

Mahaodeh said:


> But I thought the thread was about idioms used to refer to it. Isn’t it?


I was curious to see if any dialect uses the term المجانين (like in fuSHa)...


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## fenakhay

Hemza said:


> سبيطار المهابيل as well
> I know مارستان (for instance, مارستان سيدي فرج in Fes) but I feel like many young Moroccans don't know it (or am I old fashioned?).
> 
> سيدي فرج خالي والديور عامرين  all the crazy folks got released.


Oh yeah مارستان too haha. But that term is so old-fashioned (sorry for calling you old 😋). It used to mean "hospital" in general in the past.


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## Mahaodeh

bearded said:


> I was curious to see if any dialect uses the term المجانين (like in fuSHa)...


In general or for the hospital? In any case it’s yes for both.

In Palestinian Arabic the word for mad is مجنون, and مستشفى المجانين is used although not officially. العصفورية is used as كناية. In PA الهبل والحمق have distinct meanings.

In Iraqi Arabic the common term for mad is مخبّل, but مجنون is used to a lesser degree. The hospital is unofficially مستشفى المجانين.


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## emanko

EA:
A politically correct term is مستشفى الأمراض النفسية
 Pejorative terms are 
مستشفى المجانين
السرايا الصفراء
العباسية/المعمورة
الخانكة


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## Aliph

fenakhay said:


> Normal word: سبيطار الحماق (sbīTār el-7ummāq)
> Slang: 36 (sitta w tlātīn)


What is the origin of 36?


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## raful

Thank you all


Mahaodeh said:


> I think العصفورية was a neighborhood in Beirut where the first hospital was built, but I’m not sure.


That's interesting. I was always told that the nick name had to do with the patients and their behavior. Are mental patients referred to as  عصافير ?


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