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General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters | | Arabic term or phrase: مصمصة الشفايف | | As we used to say, or rather an action of nothing bu مصمصة الشفايف |
| | | English translation:grumble, wring their/one's hands, disapprove | Explanation:
The gesture of مصمصة الشفايف (to force the air though the lips so as to produce a "chirping" sound) is a much more loaded gesture than just doing nothing. It is an expression of disapproval deep-rooted in Egyptian society and used almost exclusively by females. No doubt it is used here idiomatically to refer to people who do nothing except complain. If you want to remain idiomatic, you can use grumble, mumble, murmur, whine, or any suitable synonym from your preferred thesaurus; if you want to be literal, if this is possible at all here, then "dissaprove'" is the closest sentiment to this gesture that I can think of.
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Note added at 5 hrs 4 mins (2004-12-28 14:14:07 GMT)
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A closely related gesture in the English speaking world is: sigh! |
| Selected response from:
  Alaa Zeineldine
Egypt
Local time: 20:14
| Grading comment Graded automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer |
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| Discussion entries: 0 |
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Automatic update in 00:
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12 mins confidence:   peer agreement (net): +2 | مصمصة الشفايف sitting on one's hands
Explanation:
I think here that the meaning is "not to take necessary action", so we can say also:
1. Remain passive towards ...
2. remain a mere bystander
Good Luck
الترجمة أعلاه هي بناء على اعتقادي بأن مصمصة الشفايف تعني اتخاذ موقف سلبي أو كما يقولون الوقوف مكتوف الأيدي
| Waleed Mohamed
Egypt
Local time: 20:14
Works in field
Native speaker of: Arabic
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4 hrs confidence: peer agreement (net): +2 | مصمصة الشفايف grumble, wring their/one's hands, disapprove
Explanation:
The gesture of مصمصة الشفايف (to force the air though the lips so as to produce a "chirping" sound) is a much more loaded gesture than just doing nothing. It is an expression of disapproval deep-rooted in Egyptian society and used almost exclusively by females. No doubt it is used here idiomatically to refer to people who do nothing except complain. If you want to remain idiomatic, you can use grumble, mumble, murmur, whine, or any suitable synonym from your preferred thesaurus; if you want to be literal, if this is possible at all here, then "dissaprove'" is the closest sentiment to this gesture that I can think of.
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Note added at 5 hrs 4 mins (2004-12-28 14:14:07 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
A closely related gesture in the English speaking world is: sigh!
| Alaa Zeineldine
Egypt
Local time: 20:14
Works in field
Native speaker of:  Arabic, English
PRO pts in category: 4
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| | Grading comment | Graded automatically based on peer agreement. |
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