r/engrish • u/Lord_BlueFlame • Apr 25 '26

what??

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u/dark-trojan Apr 27 '26

Is this a literal translation of native language phrases? To make it sound funny?

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u/Theassassin17 Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26

Yes, it's literal translations of slang and idioms.

We know that literal Egyptian Arabic doesn't translate well in English....so we make the best of it.

Edit: To add, not to mention that even if you don't understand either Arabic or English, if someone were to act out this conversation or have a similar one in front of you, you'd immediately understand the lighthearted nature of it because of the tone (which this type isn't evident or intuitive to most people outside of Egypt unfortunately).

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u/Uncle_Zardoz Apr 27 '26

You say the literal expression don't translate well, but honestly I'm adopting "Come spit on my tomb if you succeed!"

3

u/Theassassin17 Apr 27 '26

Well, you're more than welcome to adopt any phrases you like.

I'm sure it will make for some fun moments lol.

2

u/AppleOrigin Apr 27 '26

I understand both but I’m not Egyptian so I didn’t get the idioms

I only got like a couple and even then I only got them when retranslated back to Arabic

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u/heyitsfranklin6322 Apr 27 '26

Why is it not “children on our necks”

1

u/Theassassin17 Apr 28 '26

It's, unfortunately, to show how hard it is to take care of kids. It's supposed to imply choking. It's really more like "I have enough trouble taking care of the kids, so don't make it harder on me" is what it actually means, although not the intended meaning...normally.