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Fellow Arabs Help Me Out!


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I'm in Beirut on vacation, and I need to replace my broken glass vase/base/whatever you call it. My native dialect is Iraqi--so Lebanese or other Levantines, tell me, what do you call that in Arabic?

Alif shukur/Merci kteer!
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sheesha.

I wanted to say Qaeda at first because Al-Qaeda means The Base :(

But yes, sheesha means base.
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Sheesha? Where did you get that from? Lol.

For base, we say Ezzez (Argeeleh) [Which means glass, but if you go to a Hookah shop and say that, he will know what you are talking about].

Not sure if you are going to pronounce it right, but good luck.


Or just ask someone for "Mahal Argeeleh" which means "Hookah Store"
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I got it from my Syrian boss when I worked at a hookah bar and my jordanian friends up here in cincinnati :-\
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[quote name='FSUReligionMan' date='22 December 2009 - 05:30 PM' timestamp='1261531856' post='441101']
I got it from my Syrian boss when I worked at a hookah bar and my jordanian friends up here in cincinnati :-\
[/quote]

Sorry to tell you, but he is way off, lol.


I am from Syria, and I don't know anyone that uses "Sheesha" to describe the hookah base.

Perhaps the Jordanians use it. Def. not Syrian.
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[quote name='FSUReligionMan' date='22 December 2009 - 06:03 PM' timestamp='1261533820' post='441108']
Eh, he was from Syria as well and owned a hookah bar so I trusted him :-\
[/quote]


There's no wrong in that.

You tried to help and that's all that matters.



He COULD be right!
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[quote name='FSUReligionMan' date='22 December 2009 - 06:55 PM' timestamp='1261526137' post='441059']
sheesha.

I wanted to say Qaeda at first because Al-Qaeda means The Base :(

But yes, sheesha means base.
[/quote]

Al Qah-E-Dah is correct, it means base, or literally "the thing it sits on"

Shisha means jar, which also can be used as the base

zdjedjz or ezzeez is glass
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[quote name='Codename067' date='22 December 2009 - 08:22 PM' timestamp='1261531343' post='441100']
Sheesha? Where did you get that from? Lol.

For base, we say Ezzez (Argeeleh) [Which means glass, but if you go to a Hookah shop and say that, he will know what you are talking about].

Not sure if you are going to pronounce it right, but good luck.


Or just ask someone for "Mahal Argeeleh" which means "Hookah Store"
[/quote]


+1 on izzez argileh..... i think its more of an i than an e sound maybe an uh sound like uhzehz. arabics tough, put the accent in the wrong place and you might be swearing at someone lol
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[quote name='Codename067' date='22 December 2009 - 06:33 PM' timestamp='1261532033' post='441102']
[quote name='FSUReligionMan' date='22 December 2009 - 05:30 PM' timestamp='1261531856' post='441101']
I got it from my Syrian boss when I worked at a hookah bar and my jordanian friends up here in cincinnati :-\
[/quote]

Sorry to tell you, but he is way off, lol.


I am from Syria, and I don't know anyone that uses "Sheesha" to describe the hookah base.

Perhaps the Jordanians use it. Def. not Syrian.
[/quote]

never heard sheesha used anywhere except in the U.S.
azazz will work, and they will know what you mean.
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codename and inino are right. arabic is a pia, the best way to use words is in informal dialects, in lebanon it's ezzaz but make it a 1 syllable word or 2 syllables really fast. they will know what you want. btw, the best place is where these syrian dudes have this hookah complex, it by souk el ahad (sunday market) and i think it's around cola or chevrolet district (lol) just ask anyone where souk el ahad is and ask around for a huge argileh store, they will tell you. it's east beirut right outside aschrafieh. i can't describe more than that buit if i was with you i'd drive you there;)
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thanks guys! I do speak Arabic, just as I said, Iraqi...and some Lebanese. I knew the word uzzaz (and how to pronounce it!), but didn't know it was used for nargile.

Btw, when I bought mine 5 years ago, I got it from a store in (I think) Mar Elias...does anyone know it? Edited by Hassouni
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[quote name='Hassouni' date='23 December 2009 - 02:19 AM' timestamp='1261556366' post='441226']
thanks guys! I do speak Arabic, just as I said, Iraqi...and some Lebanese. I knew the word uzzaz (and how to pronounce it!), but didn't know it was used for nargile.

Btw, when I bought mine 5 years ago, I got it from a store in (I think) Mar Elias...does anyone know it?
[/quote]

i think there's just a monastery up there...
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[quote name='HookahJohn' date='23 December 2009 - 12:57 PM' timestamp='1261591055' post='441295']
no antouwan, mar elias is in the city, by rouche and hard rock cafe. you're thinking of mar charbel.
[/quote]

Hard Rock is 'Ain al-Mreisse, Mar Elias is near Corniche al-Mezra'a

I love me some Beirut (and Lebanese style bowls)!
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[quote name='Hassouni' date='23 December 2009 - 01:27 PM' timestamp='1261603651' post='441330']
[quote name='HookahJohn' date='23 December 2009 - 12:57 PM' timestamp='1261591055' post='441295']
no antouwan, mar elias is in the city, by rouche and hard rock cafe. you're thinking of mar charbel.
[/quote]

Hard Rock is 'Ain al-Mreisse, Mar Elias is near Corniche al-Mezra'a

I love me some Beirut (and Lebanese style bowls)!
[/quote]

And Lebanese women...:wub:
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[quote name='Codename067' date='23 December 2009 - 05:54 PM' timestamp='1261608858' post='441347']
[quote name='Hassouni' date='23 December 2009 - 01:27 PM' timestamp='1261603651' post='441330']
[quote name='HookahJohn' date='23 December 2009 - 12:57 PM' timestamp='1261591055' post='441295']
no antouwan, mar elias is in the city, by rouche and hard rock cafe. you're thinking of mar charbel.
[/quote]

Hard Rock is 'Ain al-Mreisse, Mar Elias is near Corniche al-Mezra'a

I love me some Beirut (and Lebanese style bowls)!
[/quote]

And Lebanese women...:wub:
[/quote]


oh man , that goes without saying

[quote name='shaffaaf27' date='23 December 2009 - 08:42 PM' timestamp='1261618938' post='441387']
is shisha not mirror?
[/quote]


As you can see in my sig, shisha originally meant glass, generically, in persian. in Hindustani it came to mean mirror, as in the Sheesh Mahal, the palace of mirrors, in Lahore. In Turkish, şişe means bottle, whether glass or plastic---if I remember right, it means bottle in Iraqi Arabic too, though we normally use a version of the English word "bottle." In Egypt, N Africa, and the Gulf countries, shisha refers to the entire pipe, what Iraqis, the Turks, and the Levantines call (n)argile. Not sure if shisha means anything in Levantine Arabic.

Here endeth the lesson :)
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