Recently, I picked up an interest in popular sayings and proverbs in Egypt, aka Amthal Sha3beya. They’re witty, short and apply to pretty much anything you go through in your daily life.
I started Googling famous proverbs to understand the stories behind them and their origins, and to my surprise, a lot of the sayings widely used in Egypt turned out not to have an Egyptian origin and have different phrasing across the Arab world.
1. “A white piaster for a black day”
The origin of this proverb is Yemen!
This proverb is widely used in Egypt and is used to encourage people to earn righteously and save up for tighter times.
2. “Like Mother Like Daughter”
The origin of this proverb is Morocco!
This one is used with a slight change in phrasing in Egypt and is applied to situations where you just want to express that a daughter will eventually turn out to be just like her mom or when a girl acts in a situation in a way her mom would.
3. “If you marry a monkey for his wealth, the money goes and the monkey remains”
The origin of this proverb is Tunisia!
This one is used to discourage people from marrying for purely materialistic reasons. And also to shed light on the fact that not all that shines is gold, so one needs to look deeper to analyse their situation when getting into a partnership, whether for marriage or business.
4. “Choose the neighbor before the house”
The origin of this proverb is Syria!
This one is used in situations where people need to make sure of what kind of people they are going to deal with when they’re settling somewhere new, either a house or a business. It is one of the oldest proverbs in the Middle East as well.
5. “The drowning doesn’t care about getting wet”
The origin of this proverb is Jordan!
This one is used to emphasize how some people don’t care about making things worse or leading an unhealthier lifestyle because they already have a lot of things screwed up, so they just dive deeper into it without thinking rationally.
There is another use for this proverb when it comes to people in love to describe how much a person is falling for another, they don’t mind going through anything for the other person’s sake.
6. “Away from the eye, away from the mind”
The origin of this proverb is Palestine!
This proverb is usually used to describe how-long distance relationships work. And it highlights how important it is for people to see each other frequently and have physical presence to maintain their relationship.
Bottom line, this proverb relates how difficult it is to keep a person in your heart in the exact same way if a long time passes without seeing them.
7. “It takes as much time to raise your son as to familiarize your husband”
The origin of this proverb is Libya!
This one is used to describe how getting your husband to be as you like is as endless as raising a child. It is used sarcastically when women complain about their husbands among their friends.
8. “Throw a lucky man in the sea and he will come up with a fish in his mouth”
The origin of this proverb is the UAE!
This proverb is used to emphasize how important luck is when it comes to risky situations. It is used to playfully mock those who are always lucky and never face trouble, ones with good karma.
WE SAID THIS: Check out 10 Egyptian Concepts that Need to Change.
