Mabrouk
In Tunisia we say Mabrouk "مبروك" (congratulations) a lot. In high school every time someone had a new hairdo, clothes, shoes, purse or jewelry you would say mabrouk. If you wore something that your friends had never seen before they would assume it was new and congratulate you. Every time you would reply Allah yberik fik "الله يبارك فيك
Here in the US I don't have to say these things all day long to everybody, but I catch myself doing it occasionally. One day at a meeting I told a coworker "congratulations". He said," Congratulations for what?". I replied,".. for the shoes".
Everybody looked at me strangely. It makes sense, if it was the same here as in Tunisia, I would be saying mabrouk a hundred times a day.
I was introduced to the word mabrouk while driving home from school with my father when I was 6 years old. I told him that I had received a good grade in Arabic. He said," Mabrouk" I replied, "No not Mabrouk, me!"
Mabrouk was his friend's name.
Here in the US I don't have to say these things all day long to everybody, but I catch myself doing it occasionally. One day at a meeting I told a coworker "congratulations". He said," Congratulations for what?". I replied,".. for the shoes".
Everybody looked at me strangely. It makes sense, if it was the same here as in Tunisia, I would be saying mabrouk a hundred times a day.
I was introduced to the word mabrouk while driving home from school with my father when I was 6 years old. I told him that I had received a good grade in Arabic. He said," Mabrouk" I replied, "No not Mabrouk, me!"
Mabrouk was his friend's name.
posted by Leilouta @ 2:34 PM
34 Comments:
At 2:47 PM,
nouss said…
how cute you are leilouta!! thanks for eveything.... you make my days better (espacially today after the baccalauréat!!hahaha) when i read that!!! stay like that... mabrouk el blog 7a9a!
bisous
At 3:23 PM,
Jeff said…
Thanks for the compliment on Kay's blog. It's always a pleasure to make a nice girl smile!
I like the post and the blog. And you have some unusual links--I read them myself frequently, but I would be scared to recommend them to some of my Arab friends...
I hope you're enjoying America! Whatever I ask will probably be dumb, since I haven't read through your archives yet. But I will! I will!
At 3:40 PM,
Leilouta said…
يعيشك يا نوسة
Jeff,
"And you have some unusual links--I read them myself frequently, but I would be scared to recommend them to some of my Arab friends..."
and why is that Jeff? :)
At 4:46 PM,
Olivia said…
Imagine saying, "Hello, my name is Mabrouk."
And every time he hears it, he says, "Yes?"
Just kidding ;)
Hey where is everyone?
At 5:16 PM,
Virenda said…
LOL. Some cultures are so much cooler then mine. I love shoes so when I find shoes or clothes that are fantastic I think "Congrats" too. I mean finding a cool bargain deserves a congrats at the very least.
At 5:27 PM,
Jeff said…
"and why is that Jeff?"
Probably just because I'm overcautious. It's easy to hurt people's feelings or to irritate them.
Of course, not all Arabs think alike; I know that. After all, the Sandmonkey and the Religious Policeman are Arabs themselves!
But there are lots of Arabs who would find their opinions offensive. In fact, I KNOW Arabs who find that sort of thing offensive. Not your set I guess, though. :-)
Hope you'll forgive me if I offended YOUR sensibilities.
At 5:33 PM,
Anonymous said…
Some Arabs like myself find everything offensive. We are too touchy and sensitive and we should get over it :)
At 7:59 PM,
Jeff said…
Anon.:
Ah, well, people in GENERAL these days seem to be easily offended! Just try being a man and riding the Metro: "Let's see if I offer this woman my seat she will probably get mad; but if DON'T offer THAT woman my seat, she will probably get mad..."
It doesn't bother me to walk carefully and to try to listen before I start blabbing. (Though I don't always succeed.) Anyway, it's a good way to learn not to be so easily offended onesself if you try to negotiate through the minefields of other people's sensibilities. I've got sking like a rhinoceros hide!
Anyway, I like Arabs. So it's worth it to try to get along with them.
Is everybody here Tunisian or just Leilouta? (BTW, whether it's you or just something generic, I love the profile pic!)
At 8:31 PM,
KNL said…
I'm not Tunisian, I'm Algerian/Lebanese.
My sister says mabrouk a lot though.
At 9:31 PM,
programmer craig said…
I'm from New Jersey. We hardly ever say Mabrouk. We say "F*#$ you!" a lot though :O
At 10:54 PM,
bobealia said…
I like the story about your co-worker. I tell people I like their shoes all the time, but not usually men. I just don't say congratulations. I say, "Nice Kiks."
At 1:44 AM,
still breathing said…
Mabrook 4 ur new shahrazed blog ;)
At 2:24 AM,
EMMA BENJI said…
C vrai que meme en france ils n'ont pas l'equivalent de mabrouk ou de sahha...Et du coup ca fait bizarre de ne pouvoir rien dire quand qqn porte un truc nouveau... C'est dans notre culture de féliciter les gens...
Par ailleurs congratulation sonne faux aussi pour des chaussures... C comme si c'etait un evenement majeur ce qui n'est pas le cas...
At 3:46 AM,
TunisianTouch said…
Je crois qu'en tunisie on a encore ces comportement qui rapprochent entre les gens comme faire la bise chaque jour entre collégues ou faire le tour pr les saluer dire a mabrouk a chaque occas ou autre.
mais drole de situation la ba je crois que tout est reglemente
At 4:55 AM,
jokerman said…
Mabrouk literally means Blessed, but its contemporary translation would be congratulation.
I say Mabro, its easier & shorter, like magno (magnoun)!
sala (salam)
At 6:55 AM,
Olivia said…
Programmer Craig - see, now this is why I am glad I didn't move to NJ or NYC...abrasive. My cousin in White Plains had an argument just to use a coupon at the drug store.
Ever see that New Yorky argumentative episode of "Mad About You"?
At 8:45 AM,
Elaine said…
HAHAHA! "Congratulations on your shoes!" I love it! I am now saying congratulations to EVERYTHING!
Congratulations on such an amusing blog!
At 9:04 AM,
LouLou said…
Leilouta,
I say Mabrook all th time too. It's same in Morocco. What I forget to do when am speaking in English or French is to say Mashallah before complimenting people on anything. That is absolutely essential around here because people are so superstitious they actually believe something bad to will happen to them if you say "what a nice hairdo" or "love that top" without first saying Mashallah. They're especially sensitive if the compliment is about their children. Never say "oh what a cute kid" without Mashallah or Tabarakallah first. Never. When speaking in Arabic it comes naturally but when speaking English or French I sometimes forget. Then people might glare at you & you might be blamed for anything bad that might later happen to the hairdo/top/kid.
At 9:06 AM,
Romerican said…
programmer craig, I spent a long number of years in Texas where we never say mabrouk either. Similar to Jersey habits, we tend to say "f*%k y'all" a lot.
At 10:13 AM,
Leilouta said…
hahaha ...romerican and programmer craig, That is what I use all the time in different languages too, but in my head or to my husband . I never say it out loud to others.
Loulou, I know exactly what you're talking about. People always gave me a bad look when I didn't say " mashalla" or " 7outa 3lik" ( fish on you) or "kamsa we kmis" ( five and thursday). I didn't care, it was too much work and too many words. I did't talk a lot and it tires me saying hello and how are you in my culture. In high-school all the girls in my class loved my hair and when I decided one day to cut some of it I regretted it. My friends told me that the other girls were so jeoulous and "kthawni bil nifs"خذاوني بالنفس .That is why it didn't look as good after cutting it :)
At 10:45 AM,
Romerican said…
I take it that "fish on you" must be a curse of some kind... hard to imagine it being flattering.
At 11:20 AM,
Kay said…
i say hamdaullah, ya3ni, inshallah, inzain a lot
At 11:27 AM,
Leilouta said…
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
At 12:43 PM,
programmer craig said…
Olivia, yeah the tri-state area can be pretty rough on the sensibilities :)
I've been in Los Angeles the last 17 years and it's the complete opposite. Everyone is always so polite, even when they hate each other's guts. To be honest, I think I like the Southern California way less. It does make life smoother, being non-confrontational, but it's hard to see the real person behind the facade, unless you know them very well.
At 4:35 PM,
KNL said…
My aunties all say "inshallah" like American girls say "like..." "I'm going like to the like to get new clothes.."
"Insallah I'm going to the store inshallah to get a new dress inshallah..."
At 5:20 PM,
Olivia said…
Craig - lucky escape then, coz my sensibilities are rather finely tuned.
Romerican - fortunately whilst I lived in Texas, I didn't know any of the people who said, "f*@% y'all"!
Or "howdy"...LOL
Craig - having made that last comment, don't ask me how I survived in Texas having finely tuned sensibilities. (I think I customised them!)
At 3:55 AM,
gatorbait said…
Well, Jeff, I'm not Tunisian, just your basic redneck from West Texas transpalanted to South Louisiana . We tend to be fairly polite, but also tend to be fairly direct , too.
At 7:28 AM,
Romerican said…
Olivia - Well, then, li'l lady, I reckon I best pony up 'n give you a proper Texas HOWDY!, I tell you whut. Yeehaw. Good lawd, I'm fixin' to my britches in a bunch jus' thinkin' none of them cowboy done gave ya a proper greetin'. Sumbitches.
At 9:11 AM,
Mel said…
Hi all
Found this site by accident as I'm surfing the net trying to find a suitable phrase in arabic to print out to put in a card I'm making for my friend's Nikkah.
I understand that the appropriate phrase may simply be "Mabrouk on your Nikkah" but I'd really like to be able to have that written in Arabic. Can anyone help me to find a link to the correct script of something equally appropriate?
Thanks
At 12:48 PM,
NooNi said…
Leilouta, your blog is really nice! I'm half Lebanese, and learnt the meaning of 'mabrouk' in much the same way as you did. :)
At 2:03 PM,
Anonymous said…
Leilouta, I was married to a Tunisian (Jewish) back in the'60s, and we went back to Tunisia and lived and worked there for 5 years. I, too, said Mabrouk a LOT. Also Inshallah, Hamdullah, "Hasilu," ... un tas de choses. Our daughter was 2 when we went there; 7 when we left. We had to decide if she would be a Tunisian kid or an American kid. She didn't speak much English (if you addressed her in English, she would reply in French or Arabic), so we went back home. She relearned English in 6 months. At age 45, she still speaks French ("tutoies" everyone) and understands Arabic. We went back to visit family when she was 11. She has good memories of the times, the beach, the food, etc.
PS: On our first week back in the US, she ordered chakchuka in a McDonald's. When we told her they didn't have that, she replied, "Et bien, qu'est-ce qu'ils mangent dans ce pays complique?!"
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