yaa m3awad!

GUY 1: Who's that girl over there? shisim-haa...?

GUY 2: No idea, I think she's new.

GUY 1: Look, look, she's going to swim. Damn, all I've got to wear is this wizaar. 

GUY 2: Here's a tip for life, ya m3awad: girls are like Pokémon, it doesn't matter how good you are, you can't catch any if you don't have balls.

GUY 1: Er...

GUY 2: You can totally borrow my board shorts.

GUY 1: Amazing! fidayt-ik!

The guys swap clothes before Guy 1 heads down to surprise the unsuspecting swimmer..

Arabic	Pronounced?	English
فديتك	fidayt-ik	I owe you one (>m)
فديتچ	fidayt-ich	I owe you one (>f)
فديتكم	fidayt-kum	I owe you one (>pl)
وزار	wizaar	a sarong
شسمها…؟	shisim-haa…?	what’s she called…?

guul shinuu?

According to Urban Dictionary, guul shinuu? is the ideal question to build anticipation, only to then completely undermine it by following up with something boring.

Akram is meditatively deboning some lamb at 7am in his butcher's shop. His wife Umm Khaalid, 47 years of age, stomps in and in her high-pitched way says,"buu khaalid, guul shinuu?"

"haaa?"

"GUUL SHINUU!" she says a hundred decibels higher.

"shinuu?"

" ya aall-ah, guul!"

Losing his patience he says, "wallah maadrii, yaa umm khaalid?"

"You good-for-nothing, yaa kirh-ik!" 

Akram: "inzayn...so guul-ay, what is it?"

"maabii aguul-ik khalaa9! The moment's lost." With a flick of her diamanté-studded shaylah, Umm Khaalid stomps out.

Her husband rhythmically cuts the chunks of lamb with precise swishes of the knife, contemplating the option of marrying a second wife for what seems like the millionth time.

Arabic	Pronounced?	English
قول شنو؟	guul shinuu?	Guess what? (>m)
قولي شنو؟	guulay shinuu?	Guess what? (>f)
قولوا شنو؟	guulaw shinuu?	Guess what? (>pl)
بو خالد	buu khaalid	father of Khaalid
آم خالد	umm khaalid	mother of Khaalid
شيلة	shaylah	Veil
إنزين...	inzayn…	Okay so…
يا آم خالد	yaa umm khaalid	dearest Umm Khaalid
يا كرهك!	yaa kirh-ik!	How I hate you! (>m)
مابي اقولك خلاص!	maabii aguul-ik khalaa9!	I don’t want to tell you anymore! (>m)
ولله مادري	wallah maadrii	I really don’t know

bi l-magluub

Fact: today's word was taught to me by a one-year old, making it rather essential vocabulary. It also reminded me how interested children are in pointing out how things look and how they work.

This particular baby was excited to shout bi l-magluub! when one of his play blocks was on its head. Or exclaim duur! duur! when one of his toys started to spin around.

But I noticed it was his mum who would say if his t-shirt was bi l-3aks or his hair was m3gad. He was so interested in the world around him, but relatively disinterested in anything too closely related to him.

On that note, I had no trouble imagining it would also be his mother's observation that dar-ah 3afsah.

Arabic	Pronounced?	English
بالعكس	bi l-3aks	inside out
دور! دور!	duur! duur!	round and round
معقد	m3gad	tangled
دره عفسة	dar-ah 3afsah	his room is a mess

tawqiit sayyi2

Dad: Yeah az-zuwaarah ('the family visit') was great, everyone was there, but we didn't have any desert, kul-ah min ('all because of') Theyab.

Abroad Student: Typical lol. aguul, mitaa gaym of thrawn? ('by the way, when's Game of Thrones?')

Dad: Hmm, I think at 8pm.

Abroad Student: tawqiit wayn?

Dad: Let me check. 8pm tawqiit baws6uun, which means 4am tawqiit-naa.

Abroad Student: Cool. So, khal-naa nsawii skaayb as-saa3ah 5 tawqiit-ik ('let's Skype at 5am') just after the show finishes and before you go to work.

Dad: Sure. So anyway, khal-nii akamil-ik ('let me continue'). Finally Theyab came with the kunaafah (Levantine cheese pastry soaked in syrup) while we were putting on our pyjamas but everyone has already gone so I told him tawqiit-ik sayyi2 ya 3amii ('your timing sucks, bro').

Arabic	Pronounced?	English
وين توقيت؟	tawqiit wayn?	which time zone?
توقيتي	tawqiit-ii	my time
توقيتك	tawqiit-ik	your time (>m)
توقيتچ	tawqiit-ich	your time (>f)
توقيتكم	tawqiit-kum	your time (>pl)
توقيتنا	tawqiit-naa	our time
توقيتهم	tawqiit-hum	their time
توقيت بوسطن	tawqiit baws6un	Boston time
توقيتك سء يا عمي	tawqiit-ik sayyi2 ya 3ammii	your timing sucks, bro

6aazij

Every weekday morning before sunrise, the oldest suug (‘market’) in Kuwait is filled with noise, bustle and people bidding on the shiny piles of fish placed on mats at their feet.

“simach 6aazij?” a newbie buyer asks one of the fisherman, who gives him a steely look and replies: “ee, 6aazij 6aazij” since he has just literally roped in the catch from the Gulf.

The best thing about markets is that you have a chance to buy products at their prime, and usually for less than their plastic-covered cousins at the supermarket.

The fawaakah (‘fruit’) are either naa’9jah or slightly under-ripe; the khubz (‘bread’) is never baayit and the khu'9rah (‘vegetables’) that many of us sweet-toothed penitents have to begrudgingly chomp on are, just as the fisherman said of his catch, 6aazjah 6aazjah.

So why does the sight of a hamburger that didn’t use la7am (‘meat’) 6aazij and fries that in all honesty came from bu6aa6 ('potatoes') m3afin still send ‘I want you’ signals to my brain?

Arabic	Pronounced?	English
طازج	6aazij	fresh (m)
طازجة	6aazjah	fresh (f)
ناضج	naa’9ij	ripe (m)
ناضجة	naa’9jah	ripe (m)
بايت	baayit	stale (m)
بايتة	baaytah	stale (f)
معفن	m3afin	rotten (m)
معفنة	m3afnah	rotten (f)