Ever heard a Lebanese phrase or expression that sounded awkward or did not make sense? For example, has someone ever asked you in Lebanese Arabic not to eat their head? Or have you ever heard someone talk about another person and say “the lettuce grew bigger inside their head”! Idiomatic expressions are a common feature in languages in which a group of words have a meaning not deducible from the individual words used. They show the way people choose to express certain ideas, thoughts, and reactions. Join us in this episode with Mariam to learn more about common Lebanese idioms.
Lebanese Arabic Transcript and English Contextual Translation
1
مصدر فخر لكتير أهل بلبنان إنو تكون بنتن أو ابنن “بياكلو الكتب أكل”. بتسمع مثلا الجيران عم يحكو عن هالولد، سواء بنت أو صبي، ويقولو، “ما شا الله عليه هالولد، ذكي وشاطر وبياكل الكتب أكل.” وإذا الأهل خبرو القرايبين عن علاماتو بالمدرسة، بقولو “والله طلع الأول عالمدرسة. طبيعي، هالولد بياكل الكتب أكل.”
A source of pride for many parents in Lebanon, is when their son or daughter “Eats books”. You hear, for example, the neighbors speaking about this kid, whether a girl or a boy, and say “Mashallah this kid. Smart, clever, and eats books.” And if parents told relatives about his/her grades in school, they say “Wallah (swearing) he/she ranked first in school. Normal. This kid eats books.”
2
وأكل الكتب، متل ما كلنا واضح عنا أكيد، مش مقصود بحرفيتو. بس هو متل كناية، يعني عبارة معروفة بين الناس بتنقال لتعطي معنى معيّن اتفقت الناس عليه وبكون غير المعنى الدقيق للكلمات الموجودة فيا، لأنو غالباً هالكلمات معناهن الحرفي ما بكون منطقي أو مفيد.
And eating books, as is obvious to us all for sure, is not meant literally, but it is like a metonymy. Meaning, an expression known between people that is said so that it gives a certain meaning, which people had agreed upon, and is different than the exact meaning of the words in it. Because mostly, these words’ literal meaning would not be logical or meaningful.