Beginner - My house is your house

Is "'aafiya" ever used in jokes? Could you say "Allah ya'tiik al-'aafiya" to an unemployed Moroccan fireman?

hi lads - the audio transcript is not available - can you check
thanks

post lesson commentary : good idea - you could use this vehicle to explain some grammar as well -
cheers

more please

@Desmond, 'aafiya' is not usually used in jokes. I'm not sure how an unemployed Moroccan fireman would take 'May God give you fire', I think it's funny :-) It basically depends on the person at the receiving end.

@plop, Audio transcript is working now, it might have been a technical glitch at the time.

@ Mohamed

I'm glad you liked the joke. I've always had an impish sense of humour, and I now know a lot of Arabic words and phrases that might be used to humorous effect.

The polite formula “maa (ﻤﺎ) qassart (ﻗﺼﺮﺖ)”, which is used in the final line of the dialogue, is particularly interesting. It literally means “you have not shortened”, but this does not make sense in English because “shorten” is a transitive verb and the object must always be specified. In Arabic, however, the sentence is meaningful because it is not necessary to specify the implied object (“kindness” or “generosity”). I’ve noticed that there are quite a few Arabic verbs that belong to this category. This topic is rarely dealt with in coursebooks for students of Arabic and needs to be explored in greater depth.

The translation equivalents of “maa (ﻤﺎ) qassart (ﻗﺼﺮﺖ)” are context-dependent. We can distinguish two types of situation in which this expression might be used:

The first type of situation is one in which the polite formula is preceded by a declarative sentence. This is the case in “My house is your house” and the podcast entitled “Appreciate your help”. The most natural English translation equivalents would be “You’ve been very kind” or “You’ve been very kind to me.” Numerous examples can be found in film dialogues.

The second type of situation is one in which “maa (ﻤﺎ) qassart (ﻗﺼﺮﺖ)” is preceded by an interrogative sentence such as “Is there anything else I can do for you?”, “Is there anything else I can help you with?” or “Is there anything else you need?” (cf. the examples cited by Mohamed). In this kind of situation a native speaker of English would reply: “No, you’ve done more than enough. Thanks a lot.”

In Arabic polite phrases seem to offer less scope for humour than in other languages. Take German, for instance. German shop assistants often ask polite questions such as “Haben Sie sonst noch Wünsche?” or “Haben Sie sonst noch einen Wunsch?” These are the stereotyped equivalents of “Is there anything else you need?”, but they literally mean “Have you any other wish(es) / desire(s)?” In this kind of situation an Arab would probably used the word “khidma (ﺨﺪﻤﺔ)”.

Several months ago I was in a small retail store when a shop assistant (a rather unprepossessing young man) asked a customer (a good-looking young woman) “Haben Sie sonst noch Wünsche?”. Instead of giving the usual reply (“Danke, das wär’s”), the young woman said “Keine, die Sie befriedigen können” (literally “none (i.e. no desires) that you can satisfy”). This reply was so unexpected that I couln’t help laughing, and all the other customers laughed, too, but the young man behind the counter looked rather embarrassed and couldn’t think of anything to say.

Thanks -
What a great site.
Can't wait until I am good enough to upgrade.

How come it doesnt say "baytee baytuk"?

The term in Arabic is said as (albayt baytak), and when we translate from Arabic to English we really don't translate the sentences literally. If one would give the literal translation of (albayt baytak) then I would say (the house is your house) which of course does not make much sense in English that is why (My house is your house) would be more appropriate.

A couple of days ago I spoke to a man from Cairo, and tried to figure out how "Allah ya'tiik al-'aafiya" would be pronounced in Egyptian dialect. He started laughing and said that only old people in villages use that expression nowadays in Egypt. I'm not sure about it (I think I will ask a couple of more Egyptians ;) ), I don't want to give up on it because it took me much time and effort to memorize this expression :)

Phew, I'm relieved, I talked to more Egyptians and most of them confirmed that this expression is not commonly used, but very polite and nice thing to say anyway.

mrs_dravid, regardless of how many people use it, its still Arabic and the use of it by some shouldnt be dictated by the frequency of use of others.

Also, the majority of arabs dont use proper arabic anyway...so...surely, one who is learning arabic wouldnt want to follow that trend..the trend of monkey see, monkey do.

It occurs to me that "maa qa9art" corresponds somewhat with the English "you haven't skimped" or even "you haven't fallen short" although these phrases would probably more commonly be used when referring to how generous a third person had been rather than directly to someone, unless they required extra reassurance.

You guys are doing great job ! Jazakallah Khaira . I luv this lesson