# Toilet



## gameroftheuk

I've heard something like Mahabd and Hamman, which one is more widely used term for toilet?


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## elroy

In Palestinian Arabic we use حمام (_7ammaam_) for the bathroom and بيت المي (_beet il-may_) for the toilet seat.  مرحاض (_mir7aaD_) is occasionally used for toilet seat as well, and it's definitely understood, but it's not very common.


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## gameroftheuk

elroy said:


> In Palestinian Arabic we use حمام (_7ammaam_) for the bathroom and بيت المي (_beet il-may_) for the toilet seat.  مرحاض (_mir7aaD_) is occasionally used for toilet seat as well, and it's definitely understood, but it's not very common.


I have a Jordanian friend and when I ask him about Mahabd he doesn't understand, but hammam he knows it.


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## elroy

gameroftheuk said:


> I have a Jordanian friend and when I ask him about Mahabd he doesn't understand, but hammam he knows it.


 "Mahabd" doesn't mean anything to me either.


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## gameroftheuk

elroy said:


> "Mahabd" doesn't mean anything to me either.



Mahabd meaning the other version of toilet, I learned this term in Pimsleur cassette tape. But you know what I mean by Mahabd right?


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## elroy

gameroftheuk said:


> Mahabd meaning the other version of toilet, I learned this term in Pimsleur cassette tape. But you know what I mean by Mahabd right?


 No, I really don't. 

What dialect of Arabic were you learning with the tape?


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## MarcB

gameroftheuk said:


> Mahabd meaning the other version of toilet, I learned this term in Pimsleur cassette tape. But you know what I mean by Mahabd right?


Maybe you heard is what elroy said  مرحاض (_mir7aaD_)the 7 is a strong h.


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## gameroftheuk

elroy said:


> No, I really don't.
> 
> What dialect of Arabic were you learning with the tape?



It's MSA I believe so, it's got a young sounded woman speaking english and a man speaking Arabic in his native tongue, the first lesson begins with Aufran, bdaihki arabi? 
Meaning Excuse me, do you speak Arabic, and then the lesson go on with something like, bahki arabi shway meaning I speak arabic a little, then the lesson go on with one phrase I remember quite well; Mon can deihki shway shway? meaning Could you speak slowly. Then after a few lessons in that Pimsleur tape, an arabian woman says, when le mahabd manfadluck? meaning where is the toilet, please?
And that's the Modern Standard Arabic I learn from that Pimsleur tape.

Sorry, I made a double post by mistake, I meant to quote from you but I pressed the wrong button.


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## elroy

That's definitely not MSA.  Check the label on the tape.


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## MarcB

That is not MSA it is Levatine.


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## gameroftheuk

I just type whatever sounded like what I learned from the tape, I might typed wrong, but the cassette labeled Pimsleur Eastern Arabic.


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## MarcB

gameroftheuk said:


> I just type whatever sounded like what I learned from the tape, I might typed wrong, but the cassette labeled Pimsleur Eastern Arabic.


Eastern Arabic=Levantine=Palestine,Jordan,lebanon,Syria


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## elroy

That's right.  Somebody recently mentioned on the forum that Pimsleur doesn't do MSA.

Anyway, now I'm convinced you probably meant "mir7aaD" because as far as I know "mahabd" does not exist in Levantine Arabic.  At least it doesn't mean anything to me.


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## Abu Rashid

I think gamer is trying to say mir7aad, but just hasn't heard it correctly from the tape.

If you look at this sentence you'll see how it differs from the actual sounds.



> the first lesson begins with Aufran, bdaihki arabi



I think this should be 3afwan bte7ki 3arabi?


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## elroy

Abu Rashid said:


> I think this should be 3afwan bte7ki 3arabi?


 Right, that and her own admission that she was going off of what she remembered made me pretty certain that the word in question is _mir7aad_.  

One thing though: It's _bti7ki_ in Palestinian (and the other Levantine dialects I think).


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## elroy

*Moderator Note*: The discussion about "i" and "e" in transliterations is now in its own thread.


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## HKK

By the way, we got taught mir7aD for toilet and 7ammaam for bathroom (as in: where you actual bath is). As for بيت المي: house of the...?


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## elroy

HKK said:


> As for بيت المي: house of the...?


 Literally, "house of the water."


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## Abu Rashid

An equivalent exists in English:

Water Closet (I've only seen it used in architecture plans).


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## gameroftheuk

elroy said:


> Right, that and *her *own admission that *she* was going off of what *she* remembered made me pretty certain that the word in question is _mir7aad_.
> 
> One thing though: It's _bti7ki_ in Palestinian (and the other Levantine dialects I think).



I'm not a she, anyway, it is my own imagination to type the word which sounded like that, mir7aad should sound right if the 7 is a "h" sound, but why did you type 7 instead of h?


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## elroy

gameroftheuk said:


> I'm not a she, anyway, it is my own imagination to type the word which sounded like that, mir7aad should sound right if the 7 is a "h" sound, but why did you type 7 instead of h?


 The 7 represents the Arabic letter ح.

I apologize for the gender mix-up, but I had to choose one or the other, didn't I?    I don't like to use _he/she_ too much.


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