# MSA/EA:  Having a bad hair day



## Andrew___

May I ask how Arabs would say:* "I'm having a bad hair day today".*

Can I say in MSA: *!**شعري ليس جيد اليوم*
Can I say in Egyptian: *sha3ri mish kwayyis an-nahaar da*. 

*Context:* A person who makes a few mistakes at work one day that they wouldn't usually make, perhaps because they are distracted or because things are just not working out that day for whatever reason. So they say: "I'm having a bad hair day today!"

For those not familiar with the English expression, it means that you are having an unusually bad day. For more info you can consult this thread.


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## clevermizo

This expression can mean that? I've only ever heard it with reference to hair, literally. How about that.


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## Andrew___

LOL.  I have never heard it used to describe the state of one's hair.


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## ayed

Andrew! Do you mean :
شعوري  I don't feel right ?


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## Andrew___

Hi Ayed, I did mean شعري (my hair). In English we say "Bad Hair Day."  I hope this helps.

Cheers,
Andrew


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## Xence

If I were an Egyptian, I would probably say: نهار أسود ومنيّل and even  ومش معدّي


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## Andrew___

Thanks Xence.  May I ask how we pronounce these expressions?

Cheers.


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## Xence

With no guarantee (until some Egyptian apperas around there):

_nha(a)r eswed we mnayyel we mish mi3addi_


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## elroy

clevermizo said:


> This expression can mean that? I've only ever heard it with reference to hair, literally. How about that.


 I had the same reaction! I have used and heard others use this expression many, many times, and it's always been to literally refer to someone's hair (or my own ). This must be another American-Australian difference.


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## greg from vancouver

I just want to chime in to say that this expression always refers literally to 'hair' in Canada.  I checked with a few of my office mates just now, and none of us has ever heard it used to refer in general to a 'bad day'.
-Greg


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## Andrew___

كنت مصدوما تماما عندما سمعت أنكم لم تسمعوا هذه العبارة في السياق الذي وصفته اعلاه

أين كنتم كل حياتكم؟
Where have you been all your lives!!


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## AndyRoo

You are not alone Andrew - in the UK it can be used in the way you describe.


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## tabyyy

I too have only heard this expression to refer to one's hair literally. It's so interesting that some use in this way!


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## AliAlghawi

Andrew seems you speak arabic very well thought you disappointed me when you translated the exact word 'hair' to Arabic thought you never have it said with the reference to hair. 

In translation, it's about flipping the meaning into other languages not the form of a sentence. 

I guess you managed saying that in Egyption dialect thus I'm gonna try my best to help you saying this in Modern Standard Arabic. 

I would say you can say "ما أسوأ حظي اليوم" or 'ما أسوأ حظي هذا النهار"

Which anyway could mean What a bad luck !


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## cherine

Xence said:


> If I were an Egyptian, I would probably say: نهار أسود ومنيّل and even ومش معدّي


I'd like to say that this is a rather strong expression. It's used when there's a catastrophy or something, not just being unlucky or in a bad mood. So, I wouldn't recommend it as equivalent for "having a bad hair day".


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## ayed

Cherine, can I say:
*نهاري دا وحش*
*النهار دا وحش*


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## cherine

Not the first, but you can say the second, or any other adjective following en-naharda (today) النهاردة .
We also sometimes say النهاردة مش يومي or اليوم دة مش يومي (literally: this is not my day) to mean that this is a bad day for me.


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## elroy

In English, we also say "Today's (just) not my day."


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## Andrew___

cherine said:


> We also sometimes say النهاردة مش يومي or اليوم دة مش يومي (literally: this is not my day) to mean that this is a bad day for me.


 
!!صدمت الموضوع يا شيرين

I think this is the* perfect* translation for "I am having a bad hair day."

وشكراً
أندرو


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## Xence

Thanks cherine for the precision.
I have to admit that it's indeed a strong expression. I intentionally exaggerated the thing. Just for fun. 
And I hope my pronunciation wasn't so bad...


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## cherine

Andrew___ said:


> !!صدمت الموضوع يا شيرين
> 
> I think this is the* perfect* translation for "I am having a bad hair day."
> 
> وشكراً
> أندرو


العفو يا أندرو  But 
 "صدمت الموضوع" دي صدمتني شوية  what do you mean? 


Xence said:


> Thanks cherine for the precision.
> I have to admit that it's indeed a strong expression. I intentionally exaggerated the thing. Just for fun.
> And I hope my pronunciation wasn't so bad...


Well, you should've said so, I "had" to post in the thread so that no one would think it's an ok mild expression. 
And your pronounciation wasn't bad at all.


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## Josh_

elroy said:


> clevermizo said:
> 
> 
> 
> This expression can mean that? I've only ever heard it with reference to hair, literally. How about that.
> 
> 
> 
> I had the same reaction! I have used and heard others use this expression many, many times, and it's always been to literally refer to someone's hair (or my own ). This must be another American-Australian difference.
Click to expand...

I am shocked that you guys have never heard this expression with the figurative meaning that Andrew gave.  Perhaps you have heard it with the figurative meaning and just didn't realize it.  Or perhaps it is only a regional thing.  At any rate, I can tell you that this expression is certainly alive and well in American English (perhaps only in certain regions).  I have heard it quite often with the figurative meaning as well as with the literal meaning, perhaps even more with the figurative meaning.


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## Andrew___

cherine said:


> العفو يا أندرو  But
> "صدمت الموضوع" دي صدمتني شوية  what do you mean?


 
Oops, I meant to say أصبت (صلب) الموضوع 

Please excuse me, I am having a bad hair day today. 



Josh_ said:


> I am shocked that you guys have never heard this expression with the figurative meaning that Andrew gave. Perhaps you have heard it with the figurative meaning and just didn't realize it. Or perhaps it is only a regional thing. At any rate, I can tell you that this expression is certainly alive and well in American English (perhaps only in certain regions). I have heard it quite often with the figurative meaning as well as with the literal meaning, perhaps even more with the figurative meaning.


 
Yes, I agree Josh. I think the figurative meaning is much more common, certainly in my experience.  I agree that they probably have heard it and thought that the speaker was referring to their hair.


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## elroy

Josh's post piqued my curiosity, so I conducted an informal poll among 15 friends of mine who are native speakers of American English, from various parts of the country.  I asked them to tell me if to them, the phrase (a) was a literal reference to someone's hair, (b) was a figurative expression referring to having a bad day, or (c) could be used in both ways.  Of the 15 participants, only 4 chose (c), and the other 11 chose (a).  So I think it's safe to say that (a) is certainly the _predominant_ meaning in American English.  Whether (b) is regional, I can't say.  My results don't allow a reliable conclusion about whether (b) is restricted to certain regions.

In case you're interested, here is a list of the participants (identified by their initials) and the states in which they grew up, grouped according to the their responses.

(a) literal reference to hair: 11 participants

1. J. A., Michigan
2. B. B., Louisiana
3. E. B., California and Missouri
4. J. B., California
5. T. C., Iowa
6. C. D., California
7. D. D., Alaska
8. E. F., Alaska 
9. S. J., Missouri
10. A. R., Texas
11. J. S., New York

(b) figurative meaning: 0 participants

(c) both: 4 participants

1. J. A., California
2. J. B., California
3. S. G., Florida
4. N. K., South Carolina


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## Andrew___

شكرا يا الروي على هذه المعلومات الشائقة

أنا سعيد لأن هذا التعبير المجازي شائع الى حد ما في أمريكة


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