Arabic Slang ~ similar to USA?

[Henna Rose 0]

Just curious as many of you were talking about slang being a whole other language in itself to learn by your SO's when they arrived ~ how does Arabic slang compare to ours ? i know we have some similar sayings and phrases, just wondering if it's as prevalent as in our culture ?

[sereia 0]

its absolutely as prevalent in morocco. darija is full of slang! i can't speak for anywhere else but i would guess it is in the entire world.

morocco has some funny ones. my husband likes to call not so pretty/unusual looking girls (sounding it out here...no clue how its spelled out) "shabioush" or "chambord". he says it doesn't exactly translate into our slang words for that but its basically what he means.

Edited April 23, 2008 by sereia

[palilover 1]

I have limited experience in arabic slang. Habibi and I don't usually focus too much on slang because I want to learn how to speak correctly and appropriately to my in laws:) But I used to know this guy from bahrain who was big into slang. But he was younger too...something like 18 or something. Instead of saying salam or ahlan for example in a greeting, he always greeted me with "halla walla" which if I remember correctly was sorta equivelent to our "How's it going?" or "What's up?" I don't remember any others.

[chaishai 1]

my husband uses a lot of arabic slang (even though his primary language in israel was hebrew). like "yalla" for lets go and "ahlan" for whats up. that is slang right? he also curses in arabic because when he was growing up both of his parents spoke more arabic than hebrew and when they would curse they would do it in arabic so the kids wouldnt understand (although they did understand) bc they were speaking hebrew in school.

not sure how any of this is relevant to the topic at hand tho sorry! just felt like sharin

[S and S 12]

One of the slang phrases in Iraq is "Sha ku ma ku?" Which basically means "Whats up?". To answer, you say "Ma ku shee" which means basically "Not much" or "Nothing".

[SaadBell 0]

Don't know any arabic slang, but got a ton of american stuff, my husband always asks me to teach him the lastest slang, which we both learn from the oldest daughter. I am finally getting so old, that I don't know the coolest stuff now. How sad.

[morocco4ever 63]

Don't know any arabic slang, but got a ton of american stuff, my husband always asks me to teach him the lastest slang, which we both learn from the oldest daughter. I am finally getting so old, that I don't know the coolest stuff now. How sad.

Just a funny note. We often say "holy cow". My husband has heard this over and over again, and finally asked why we say it. He didn't know that we had some sort of link to India...

These stories go on and on, and it is then that I can really take a look at our slang and common phrases we say. When taken literally they really are quite funny.

[brnidokiegurl 0]

Mine told me Happy Weding Birthday i said noooooooo look at the word birth day thinking he meant to say anniversary oh well i knew ha

or the time i told him sit down and keep your pants on...one i will never forget, he goes whattttttttttttttttt????????

[palilover 1]

Mine told me Happy Weding Birthday i said noooooooo look at the word birth day thinking he meant to say anniversary oh well i knew ha

or the time i told him sit down and keep your pants on...one i will never forget, he goes whattttttttttttttttt????????

A bit OT from the OP but your happy wedding birthday reminds me of my husband. When he had to send me his original birthcertificaet for his ds230 package, he tried to tell me he sent me his happy birthday for immigration...I was like WHAT? lol:)

Beantown is full of slang. Just ride the train on a Friday night nad you'll pick up on loads. I sat next to this girl one time and she was gabbing on her cell phone about how sick everything was. When I was growing up...God I feel old...everything sick was bad. As I listened to her conversation, I realized that in the year 2008, sick is good.....lol

[Mommy2ZaidnSalma 11]

i do know alot of arabic slang, but sadly, its horrible words...lol...

I do know in arabic when cutting someone down its common to say like "your sisters this" or "your mothers that" its very offensive....also, i know they say things that would literally translate in english to like "ill spit in your mouth" or "put a shoe in your mouth" things like that....

also, telling someone they are on top of your head is like a sign of respect....

[tammy2688 1]

Don't know any arabic slang, but got a ton of american stuff, my husband always asks me to teach him the lastest slang, which we both learn from the oldest daughter. I am finally getting so old, that I don't know the coolest stuff now. How sad.

Its so hard to keep up with whats "rockin" or jammin or flippin oi...

[Nasturtium 500]

i do know alot of arabic slang, but sadly, its horrible words...lol...

I do know in arabic when cutting someone down its common to say like "your sisters this" or "your mothers that" its very offensive....also, i know they say things that would literally translate in english to like "ill spit in your mouth" or "put a shoe in your mouth" things like that....

also, telling someone they are on top of your head is like a sign of respect....

Yeah, same here, I know some of the worst curses and not too much constructive Arabic.

[palilover 1]

Along the lines of family members used in slang...

yeah if you wanna insult someone in arabic, and likely start a fight, say something about ehir mother or sister or father. I do not remember the expression now but there is something equivelent to "death upon your father" where if you say it, it is huge and the other person will fight you.

I've found in my experience with arabis that when they insult someone they have so much emotion behind it. Sure, wehn they look at you with angry look they are showing emotion. But the words they use are bigger emotion. (just translate some of the arabic songs....well, that would have to do with love, not insults...but it shows you how emotional they are with their meanings of things)

As far as the shoe.....that is the weopen of choise I think by mothers:) I saw it one time. Kinda funny considering in our culture we beat our kids with yard sticks, belts, etc. I talked to a palestinian woman I sued to know about it and we agreed that maybe the reason tehy pick to hit someone with bottom of a shoe is because it is symbolic of the scum at the bottom of the shoe....depending on how dirty i t is, you're hitting someone with it. But if you hit someone with a shoe, it is also a sign of disrespect. for example, if i was to go to the middle east and be seen hitting habibi with a shoe, I'm sure the entire family would come to his defense and say how horrible I was, lol

This is the most intriguing thing about Arab culture is how the people think to come up with some of these things. It all has very deep meaning.

[sarahaziz 0]

I wouldn't recommend any american using american slang when talking with arabs. It's always taken offensive and doesn't make people look classy.

[morocco4ever 63]

I wouldn't recommend any american using american slang when talking with arabs. It's always taken offensive and doesn't make people look classy.

If they are coming here they need to adapt to it.