# Keep your fingers crossed.



## majlo

Mar*h*aban!
How do you say this expression in Arabic?
Thank you in advance,
majlo


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## elroy

In Palestinian Arabic, we would say قول إن شاء الله (_pronounced 2uul inshaalla_), which literally means "Say 'Lord-willing.' "

In the Arab world, we don't cross our fingers, we say "inshaalla."


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## majlo

What letter does the 2 stand for?


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## ayed

majlo said:


> What letter does the 2 stand for?


 
2 stands for "q'' (*q*ool in sha'a allaho)

As for this expression, it holds christian conotation which means , if not mistaken, what Elroy has just confirmed.
when one keep his/her finger crossed , it means that he/she wishes something good for him/her self or for others.


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## majlo

ayed said:


> 2 stands for "q'' (*q*ool in sha'a allaho)



"Q"? Hmm, do you mean ق by chance?


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## MarcB

majlo said:


> "Q"? Hmm, do you mean ق by chance?


Yes he means *ق*


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## Abu Rashid

2 stands for hamza ء not for Qaf ق
However in the urban dialects of most Arabic countries, the Qaf is replaced by a hamza.


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## MarcB

Abu Rashid is right 2 isء  but as ayed said the word is قwith .  in the urban dialects of most Arabic countries Egypt and the Levant the Qaf is replaced by a hamza.


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## elroy

Correct. That's why I wrote the Arabic version with a ق but the transliteration with an 2. If I really wanted to, I could have written أول to more faithfully represent the Palestinian pronunciation, but that looks strange. Furthermore, in Palestinian Arabic it can also be pronounced q, k, and g depending on the region, so it makes more sense to use the MSA spelling to write it. See this thread for more information on this topic. 

Ayed, I do not think this expression has "Christian connotations." In Palestinian Arabic, it is used by both Christians and Moslems.


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## Abu Rashid

> so it makes more sense to use the MSA spelling to write it



Actually if it's MSA spelling, there should be no و I think 



> Ayed, I do not think this expression has "Christian connotations."



I think he meant the tradition of crossing fingers is a Christian practise.


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## linguist786

Abu Rashid said:


> Actually if it's MSA spelling, there should be no و I think


I was thinking the same actually. قل (qul) is the amr of the verb قال. 
قولوْا would be the plural.

Where has qool come from?


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## elroy

Abu Rashid said:


> Actually if it's MSA spelling, there should be no و I think


 I was only referring to the first letter, obviously. 


> I think he meant the tradition of crossing fingers is a Christian practise.


 Well, in that case, that's not true either. It's a superstitious practice. 


linguist786 said:


> Where has qool come from?


 It's a common feature of Palestinian Arabic. In many imperatives of this type, the vowel is elongated.


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## Abu Rashid

> Where has qool come from?



I think because the Qaf has been converted to a Hamzah it leaves the word sounding shortened, so it's lengthened to compensate with a Waw.



> Well, in that case, that's not true either. It's a superstitious practice



Well Christians in my country do it as a way of making a crucifix with their hands.


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## elroy

Abu Rashid said:


> I think because the Qaf has been converted to a Hamzah it leaves the word sounding shortened, so it's lengthened to compensate with a Waw.


 This is incorrect. The elongation of the vowel has nothing to do with the q > 2 phenomenon. Dozens of verbs beginning with other letters exhibit the same feature, and as I said above, q is not pronounced like a 2 everywhere, yet the elongation occurs everywhere.

Furthermore, "tell me" is "2ulli" - the vowel is shortened again despite the 2. 


> Well Christians in my country do it as a way of making a crucifix with their hands.


 A quick Google search shows that the origin of the practice is uncertain (see this, for example). In any case, in this day and age I think it's a stretch to associate finger-crossing with Christianity.


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## cherine

Yes, in 3ammeyya we لا نجزم الفعل الأمر so we keep the long vowels as they are. It has nothing to do with the letters of the verb.


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## Josh_

Yes, I was going to add that since 3ammiyya has freed itself (for lack of a better term) of the case system of MSA the imperative of hollow verbs (أفعال معتلة العين/أجوف ) is not shortened.

The shortness of "2ulli" has nothing to do with the majzuum case, but rather has do do with the stress patterns of the dialect.


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## ayed

elroy said:


> Ayed, I do not think this expression has "Christian connotations." In Palestinian Arabic, it is used by both Christians and Moslems.


Thank you Elroy.I meant "*keep fingers crossed*"


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## Arrius

'Ayed, I do not think this expression has "Christian connotations." In Palestinian Arabic, it is used by both Christians and Moslems.'
   I feel sure that the act of crossing one's fingers and verbal reference thereto originally had Christian connotations. Besides saying it, to my knowledge at least in England and her former colonies  
(Germans in a pagan custom press their thumbs or  knock on wood  instead) to express the equivalent of "in shaa allah", children, especially, perform this gesture secretly behind their backs when they are telling lies.  This has become a secular ritual but in christendom was once intended to ward off evil (in this case, punishment for the lie).
   Palestinians may have adopted this gesture from Christians in the same way as some other Arab countries, also with comparatively  less strict religious 
authorities, have adopted Santa Claus and even  the Christmas tree, both now largely devoid of religious significance (in fact the latter is a vestige of northern paganism taken over by the missionaries), as rather innocent, jolly things for the little ones.  
  i took the precaution of asking Jeeves and he agreed with me on the origin of this custom.


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## elroy

Arrius said:


> Palestinians may have adopted this gesture from Christians [...]


 But we haven't. 


> I took the precaution of asking Jeeves and he agreed with me on the origin of this custom.


 Why is Jeeves more reliable than any other Internet source?

In any case, even if the origins did have something to do with Christianity, that wouldn't change the fact that you can't really make an association between the gesture and Christianity *today*.


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