Sunday

Helwe wa Kezzabi

Recently I've been watching the MTV Lebanon show Helwe wa Kezzabi (حلوة و كذابة).  It's got some good phrases and is actually interesting to watch.  I even added the opening song to my You Tube favorites.  Plus Dalida Khalil is pretty much the hottest Lebanese actress there is.

This post is a clip from the show where Dalida (both the actress's name in real life and the show) is checking up on her friend Lena because she hasn't been showing up to school.  Lena got told by the guy she liked that he didn't like her so she was staying in bed for days and didn't want to leave the house.  In the clip Dalida is trying to pry out of Lena what's wrong.  The phrase that made me choose this clip was "don't limp in front of a cripple" ما تعرج قدام مكرسح .  I had never heard that before, but you can get what is meant by it from the context of the conversation if you know what the individual words mean.  The English equivalent would be "don't kid a kidder".  Not really a phrase I've heard in daily life, more in old movies, but it's the best equivalent I could think of.  Also تفنيص is a new one for me.  Had to do some research to get the exact meaning.  I settled on BS.





خبريني. انتي كيفك؟
Tell me, how are you?

منيحة
Good

منيحة؟ من وين لوين منيحة؟
Good?  There's no way you're good. (Or "what do you mean you're good?")

والله منيحة
Really, I'm good.

لينا.  انا صاحبتك و حافظتك عن الغايب. قوليلي شو بكي
Lena, I'm your friend and I've can read you like a book.  Tell me what's wrong with you.

كنت شوي مريضة
I was a little sick.

ما تعرجي قدام مكرسح
Don't limp in front of a cripple.

شو يعني؟
What does that mean?

يا حبيبتي, ما بتضبط معك. انا استاذة بالكذب.  اختصاصي تفنيص.  يعني ما تجرّبي تقطّعي عليّ ولا كذبة
My dear, it doesn't work for you.  I am a teacher in lying.  My specialty is BS.  It means don't try to pass a single lie by me.

11 comments:

Zoë said...

Hi! Thanks for the clip and translation. Could you say what وين specifically means? Thanks!

The Arabic Student said...

وين (wayn) by itself just means "where". Where are you is وينك (waynak). The phrase من وين لوين would literally translate to "from where to where", but it really means what I put in the translation.

Zoë said...

Ah, got it! Thanks very much!

Anonymous said...

Can you explain what This phrase means literally? Thank you.


حافظتك عن الغايب

Anonymous said...

According to my Lebanese teacher, "تفنيص" means something close to "showing off" rather than just "BS"

Isaac said...

More Helwe wa Kezzabi! Great show.

Anonymous said...

could you please post grammar tenses

Anonymous said...

حافظتك عن الغايب

pretty sure that means "I noticed you were absent"

Literally it's like... I noticed you absent. I think. Just an educated guess.

Oh and I'm so unhappy that I just found this blog. Woulda come in handy during college Arabic! Also, Mr. Author, if there is anyway I could get in contact with you via email or something please let me know.

Anonymous said...

تفنيص Is Lebanese for "lying" or "bluffing"
حافظتك عن الغايب literally means "I memorized you in your absence". What it actually means is that she memorized all her details and can describe every single detail even when she isn't there (absent).
A Lebanese.

Anonymous said...

does the title mean pretty liar?

Nour نور said...

Hi !

First thank you for you blog, it's one of the best ever stumbled upon.
I just finished watching the whole serie of Helwe wa kezzabi I discovered thanks to your blog, and I was amazed at the fact that I understood 80% of it if not more (after a year of watching lebanese shows and not understanding a thing, I didn't expect this "burst" of understanding !).
Anyway, it seems you're also interested in the gulf dialects (and personnally they're my favorite), and I saw on MBC this year a TV series I really liked, "ألو مرحبا and I just finished watching it again on the MBC website (shahid.net or something like that) ... Do you already know this show ? If not, you might like it, it's a comedy too and of a very good quality (compared to others)..
And I'm hoping to see more lessons in the gulf dialect !
thank you again,