7irrah ma7irrah



Go to any Kuwaiti saaHah and aside from the children playing, running about and cracking shwayyat nikkat, you may see kids grinding a fist into their palm. For anyone who didn't grow up in Kuwait, this sight is fairly mysterious but as I've recently learned, the gesture is the bonafide Kuwaiti way of children yaTaffruun and making each other ghayurriin.

The grinding palm action has its British equivalent when children stick out their tongue at someone and say "naa naa na naa naa."

When you get older, the same sentiment tends to be communicated by saying inta ghayuur or intay ghayuurah? Or even, after Theyab teases me into silence, he says, with a wry smile, "aTaffar-ich waayid, Sij wallah muu Sij?"

But grinding a fist into your palm and heckling Hirrah maHirrah is far more fun.


Verb
 انا اطفر
ana aTaffir I tease

انت تطفر
inta taTaffir You (m) tease

انتي تطفرين
intay taTaffriin You (f) tease

انتو تطفرون
intaw taTaffruun You (pl) tease

احنا نطفر
aHnaa naTaffir We tease

هو يطفر
uhuwa yaTaffir He teases

هي تطفر
ihiya taTaffir She teases

اهما يطفرون
uhuma yaTaffruun They tease

غيور ghayuur Jealous (m)
Adjectives غيورة ghayuurah Jealous (f)

غيورين ghayurriin Jealous (pl)

مرتاح بنفسه
mirtaaH bi nafs-ah Comfortable (in himself)

ساحة saaHah The playground
Nouns نكتة niktah A joke

شوية نكت shwayyat nikkat Some jokes
Phrase
اطفرچ وايد، مو صج؟
aTaffar-ich waayid, muu Sij? I tease you a lot, right (>f)?