# Palestinian Arabic: مجاكر



## squeezed90

I've always wondered how to say this word, and other derivatives of the same root. I think it's only in PA and not MSA. You can say for e.g. "Howe wa7ad mjaker" or "Kteer be7eb el-mjakara" or "Bedal yjakerni".
The only thing I can think of in english that is remotely similar is the verb to tease, but it doesn't quite express it.
Also, does anyone know where this word comes from? Could it have anything with the "joker"?


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## clevermizo

The verb _jaakar_ is also used in Syrian Arabic and perhaps also Lebanese.

I think the origin of "joker" is plausible, though I would have expected a different vowel: _jookar, mjooker, mjookara (mjawkara) _etc.**

The root ج ك ر is in لسان العرب in the forms جَكـــِرَ and أجْكــَرَ :



> *جَكِرَ* الرجل يجكَر جَكَرًا ألَحّ والعامة تستعمله بمعنى غصب واغتاظ
> أجْكَرَه ألَحّ عليه في البيع


It may be that the meaning of "to tease" is related to this, especially since it mentions the meaning اغتاظ, "to be infuriated". If _jakira_ means "to be infuriated" then _jaakara_ would be a natural way to say "to infuriate someone else" which could lead to the lighter meaning of "teasing" someone. It seems that even then it is marked as colloquial (العامة تستعمله), however if it's in لسان العرب I doubt the origin could be English.

**[oo] signifies a long [o] (As in colloquial خوخ or لوز）sound. For long  (as in أقول) I write [uu].


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## CZAREK

Hi guys,

As far as I know it is very Syrian word.

جاكر=jaakara=to tease,

Ex:Everyone teases him when he's late for work.

كل بيجاكره وقت بيجي متأخر عالشغل.=kell byejaakaro(h) waq(2)t byejii 3ash-shoghl.

Bye
Czarek


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## elroy

In Palestinian Arabic, جاكر doesn't mean "to tease" (we wouldn't use it in Czarek's context).

I would translate it as "to spite" or some derivative thereof:

هو واحد مجاكر = He is a spiteful person.
كتير بحب المجاكرة = He likes to do things out of spite.
بضل يجاكرني = He's constantly spiting me.


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## squeezed90

That's exactly it! Because although it can mean to tease, usually the person does it on purpose to upset someone else; i.e. to spite someone.
Thanks elroy.
As for the root clevernizo I think you're right, it comes from جَكِرَ in the sense اغتاظ


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## elroy

I wouldn't really associate it with teasing.  Teasing is usually playful, light-hearted, etc., whereas مجاكرة is negative.  So what may appear to just be plain old teasing may actually be مجاكرة, but مجاكرة itself is not teasing.


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## Ghabi

If someone always plays the devil's advocate just for the heck of it, then can I call him مجاكر?


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## elroy

Ghabi said:


> If someone always plays the devil's advocate just for the heck of it, then can I call him مجاكر?


 If their intention in doing that is to get on someone's nerves, then yes.


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## Aprocitos

I would interpret it as the annoying kind of teasing. Something like a little brother that won't leave you alone. 

I texted my Arabic teacher and he said that it was definitely a false cognate.


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## elroy

Welcome to the forum, Aprocitos. 


Aprocitos said:


> I would interpret it as the annoying kind of teasing. Something like a little brother that won't leave you alone.


 In my experience, that's not what it means in Palestinian Arabic.  I suppose it may be different in other dialects, but in Palestinian Arabic it refers to being spiteful, as I said earlier.


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## CZAREK

I suppose it relates more for Syrian (this one I am sure in 99%) and Lebanese accent as "to tease".

So now I see that the "Shamee slang" is not the same as I thought before ,for all this countries.

Greetings


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## Palestinian

Jaqarah means impudence and disresepct, and there's a common phrase said now and then in palestine which goes
جكارة فيك
jaqarah feek
which is used in implication of vengence
ex
جكارة فيك مش راح أفتح الباب
jaqarah feek mish ra7 afta7 el baab
at your displeasure i will not open the door


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## elroy

"At your displeasure" doesn't make sense in that context in English.  A more idiomatic translation would be "just to spite you."

And جكارة doesn't mean "impudence" or "disrespect"; it means "spitefulness," as has already been mentioned.


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## Palestinian

i'm not trying to translate jaqara literally but i'm delivering the meaning, and with all due respect the phrase is quite correct and for your information the word جكر‎ means وقح ‏‎ not  ‎حقود‎ which spitful mean


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## elroy

> the phrase is quite correct


 I can assure you that the phrase "at your displeasure" makes absolutely no sense in your sentence, and would not be understood by a monolingual English speaker.  If you don't believe me, feel free to start a thread in the English Only forum.


> the word جكر‎ means وقح ‏‎ not  ‎حقود‎ which spitful mean


مجاكر and وقح do not mean the same thing.  In fact, I can't think of a context in which they could be used interchangeably.  مجاكر usually means "spiteful" and not "rude" (which is what وقح usually means).  If a child were to talk back to his parents in a rude way, you would not refer to his behavior as جكر, but you might call the child وقح.  The word جكر, as you know, refers to acting in a certain way to deliberately annoy somebody else or get on their nerves; this is referred to in English as "spiting someone" or "being spiteful towards them."  It is not described as "being rude."

As for حقود, there are a number of words that can be used to translate it, depending on the context.  Whether or not it can be translated as "spiteful" is actually irrelevant in this discussion.  We're discussing the meaning of جكر, not the meaning of "spite(ful)."  I have proposed "spite" as a translation of جكر, based on my understanding of both words. 

You have suggested "impudence" and "disrespect."  Aside from the fact that "impudence" is rarely used in colloquial English (we're more likely to say "rudeness"), I don't see how those words can be considered equivalents of مجاكرة . While مجاكرة may be perceived as disrespectful or rude in certain situations, depending on who you're doing it to and why, neither of those is the core meaning of the word.

If Child A doesn't want Child B to play with his toys even though he (Child A) doesn't want to play with them, just to جاكر Child B, you would not say that child A is being "rude" or "disrespectful" (or "impudent," to use your word).  You would, however, say that Child A is doing this _out of spite_ or that he is being _spiteful_.

Another example: Let's say two co-workers who share an office (let's call them John and Bob) have a fight.  John knows that Bob doesn't like it when anyone hangs their coat on the back of their chair (because he doesn't think it looks professional), so John usually just hangs his coat in the closet because he doesn't really care one way or the other.  But because they had a fight he decides to hang his coat on the back of his chair just to tick Bob off (جكارة فيه).  This is not rude or disrespectful (there is nothing wrong or socially unacceptable about it); it's spiteful.

And if you wanted to say that a store owner, for example, was being disrespectful or rude toward a customer, you would not describe their behavior as مجاكرة.  You would say something like قلة أدب or وقاحة.


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## squeezed90

elroy said:


> If a child were to talk back to his parents in a rude way, you would not refer to his behavior as جكر, but you might call the child وقح.  The word جكر, as you know, refers to acting in a certain way to deliberately annoy somebody else or get on their nerves; this is referred to in English as "spiting someone" or "being spiteful towards them."  It is not described as "being rude."



I have to agree with elroy. Although it might be considered disrespectful, the act itself is done out of spite, which is a closer meaning of the word mjakara. For example in the scenario mentioned with John and Bob, Bob might find it disrespectful, but John was acting out of spite.


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## Palestinian

God!! i'm palestinian and wallahi el 3atheem the word جكر ‏‎ means وقح ‏‎ like:
الله يلعنك ما أجكرك
allah yel3anak majkarak
here it completely means وقح

now when you call someone مجاكر
yes it could MEAN teaser but in a much stronger form but the literal meaning is وقح ‏‎ as for the english part maybe i'm wrong but i have heard it before said : at your pleasure/displeasure


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## elroy

Palestinian said:


> i'm palestinian and wallahi el 3atheem the word جكر ‏‎ means وقح ‏‎


 I'm Palestinian too, and to me the two words do not mean the same thing.


> الله يلعنك ما أجكرك
> allah yel3anak majkarak
> here it completely means وقح


 Not to me.  To me, it means شو بتحب تجاكر.

If a child were acting disrespectfully toward his parents (talking back to them, for example), I might say مأوقحك but I would never say مأجكرك.



> now when you call someone مجاكر
> yes it could MEAN teaser but in a much stronger form but the literal meaning is وقح ‏‎


  Says who?  I have given you a number of examples that show that the two words do not mean the same thing.  And it doesn't mean "teaser"; it means "spiteful."


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## squeezed90

"majkarak" or "ما أجكرك" doesn't make sense to me. It just doesn't seem like we're talking about the same word because ma2ajkarak sounds wrong. I, like elroy, would say "shu bet7eb tjaker" or "shu mjaker".
I'm also Palestinian


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## elroy

squeezed90 said:


> "majkarak" or "ما أجكرك" doesn't make sense to me. It just doesn't seem like we're talking about the same word because ma2ajkarak sounds wrong. I, like elroy, would say "shu bet7eb tjaker" or "shu mjaker".


 I am familiar with ما أجكرك, and it does come from the same root.  It means the same thing as شو بتحب تجاكر.


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## oopqoo

In a past thread the word خاوة seemed to be synonymous with جكارة فيك, both in meaning and the fact that they're both adverbs (though formally maybe they'd be considered nouns). I know خاوة is also used in PA.


psxws said:


> Jordanians say خاوه, an informal/insulting way of expressing the related idea "whether you want to or not"


Are they exactly the same, or is there a slight difference?
Just in case anyone would like an example, I feel like the following two would be the same:
رح اصف سيارتي خاوة قدام سيارتك عشان ما تقدرش تطلع 
رح اصف سيارتي جكارة فيك قدام سيارتك عشان ما تقدرش تطلع


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## analeeh

I'm not sure it is the same. خاوه to me is more similar to غصبن عنك 'in spite of you' (which despite the cognate has nothing to do with spitefulness), 'whether you like it or not'. جكارة فيك, although I don't think I've heard it, seems more similar to نكاية فيك which means 'to spite you'. 

In Syrian I have heard جاكر used to mean 'tease' in a relatively non-serious context, which makes me think the Syrian meaning doesn't entirely line up with the Palestinian one.


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## apricots

FWIW the Olive Tree Dictionary has tjāker as to contradict deliberately. From this I think we can translate mjāker as contrarian. Someone who disagrees for the sake of disagreeing.


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## oopqoo

Just to add my own input, from all the examples given it seems like مجاكر can be translated to the American slang "petty". But I'm anyway wondering about what I asked in #21


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## elroy

analeeh said:


> خاوه to me is more similar to غصبن عنك 'in spite of you' (which despite the cognate has nothing to do with spitefulness), 'whether you like it or not'. جكارة فيك, although I don't think I've heard it, seems more similar to نكاية فيك which means 'to spite you'.


 Yes, exactly.  They are not synonyms and I wouldn't even say the meanings are similar. 





oopqoo said:


> رح اصف سيارتي خاوة قدام سيارتك عشان ما تقدرش تطلع
> رح اصف سيارتي جكارة فيك قدام سيارتك عشان ما تقدرش تطلع


 First of all, خاوة/خاوا (I think I would spell it with an alef) and جكارة فيك would come after قدام سيارتك.

رح اصف سيارتي قدام سيارتك خاوا عشان ما تقدرش تطلع:
"whether you like it or not" -- This seems like an unlikely sentence, because 1) no one likes to have their car blocked, and 2) it's unlikely that someone would ask you to not block their car, since that's so obvious.  A better example for خاوا:

يقول اللي بدو اياة، راح أعمل حفلة خاوا (in a context in which the other person doesn't want you to throw a party)​
رح اصف سيارتي قدام سيارتك جكارة فيك عشان ما تقدرش تطلع:
"to spite you" -- This one means that my sole purpose for doing this is to anger you.​
If I were to summarize the difference, I would say that خاوا implies "I *don't care* what X thinks" while جكارة فيك implies "I *do care* what they think, and I'm going to do this to *annoy/bother/inconvenience/upset* them."


apricots said:


> From this I think we can translate mjāker as contrarian.





oopqoo said:


> it seems like مجاكر can be translated to the American slang "petty"


 I don't think either of these fits.

We have an expression for "contrarian," which is خالِف تُعرَف.  I suspect The Olive Tree's "to contradict deliberately" was a clumsy attempt to convey the real meaning ("to spite").  (Elihay was not a native speaker of English, so a certain degree of unidiomaticity is to be expected.)

"Petty" doesn't quite cut it because مجاكرة can be serious.

Eight years after this thread was started, I continue to see "to spite" as the perfect equivalent and see no need to look for alternatives.


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