Turkish Language - Some Street Turkish and Daily Expressions
Invoking the Intervention of Allah..
The using of the name of Deity in daily speech is not considered strong talk as it would be to call on Jesus, Christ or God in the English language. The following examples are quite ordinary usage in daily Turkish.
| Meaning | Invocation | New Turkish |
|---|---|---|
| Before beginning something | İnşallah | umarım - I hope |
| Just at beginning | Bısmıllah | - |
| Goodbye..! | Allahaısmaladık..! | Hoşçakal..! - Keep well..! |
| When surprised/disappointed | Allah Allah..!! | Hadi ya!, Vay canına! - Well now!, What the heck? |
| When giving up - (see note below) | Eyvallah | - |
| To get to the end, finish off | Ya Allah | - |
| Promise, swear | Vallah Bıllah | Yemin ederim - I'm sure |
| Show self confidence | Evallah | - |
| Fully motivated | Alımallah | - |
| Bored | Fesuphanallah | Of! - (a sound) |
| More bored | Hasbınallah | - |
| Give up | İllallah | Bıktım (verb: bıkmak) - I am fed up |
| Great inspiration and motivation | Allah, Allah, Allah | - |
| Succeeded | Maşallah | Aferin! - Well done! |
| "Please don't mention it.." - showing modesty | Estağfurullah | Lafi bile olmaz - It is not even worth mentioning |
| At failure | Hay Allah | - |
Some of the younger people do not use all these invocations, but you will hear them everywhere and read them in newspapers and novels, so to my mind they are useful to know.
Thanks to Alex Taurus and Dicle Düzgün for their contributions - May 2008Some notes on the formulas above
Allahaısmaladık - Means Goodbye. - (lit: We call on Allah..) - when leaving company or after making a visit to someone's home. This formula is only spoken by the persons who are actually leaving.
- Listen to Allahaısmaladık.. - Said by those leaving.
Those who are staying behind should reply - Güle güle.. - (lit: Go with a smile..) as their own - Goodbye.. to the vistors.
- Listen to Güle güle.. - Said by those staying
Eyvallah - Has two more meanings: Thanks (with gratitude) also used to say Goodbye for now.. Hard to explain. It is mainly used in conversations between men. Allah is the name of God in the Muslim world. These words above are Arabic, and our Turkish friends use them as they are. Most religious and older people use almost all of these words, but the younger and less religious people use some of them only.
- Listen to Evallah.. - Said to show "Thanks.." or as a "Goodbye for now.."
Estağfurullah - If someone compliments you on your ability to converse in Turkish - then your reply is - Estağfurullah - "Please don't mention it.." which implies a modicum of modesty. I was on holiday recently (May 2007) in Kuşadası and I had a meal on Güvercin Adadası - Pigeon Island out in the bay which was expertly served by a waiter of advanced age. I told him that I could see that he was an - Usta - expert - at his job. His reply to me was - Estağfurullah..!
- Listen to Estağfurullah.. - Said to show modesty
Street Turkish - Body Language and Sign Language
Yes - evet - is shown by a single downward nod of the head.
No - hayir or yo(k).. - is shown by a single tilt the head backwards while lifting the eyebrows at the same time.
| Here our unknown friend is signifying "No" by raising his eyebrows with an uptilt of the head.. | |
|---|---|
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Quite often one will make the sound "tut" at the same time. Note that, shaking the head from side to side does not mean - "NO". It signifies - I don't understand. This is often a mistake made by Europeans when trying to say - "No" - and is the cause of many misunderstandings - you must tilt your head backwards and raise the eyebrows when indicating negation and saying "No" If you shake your head to mean - No - you will be misunderstood and the Turk will probably repeat himself thinking that you have not understood their meaning... |
| If someone is trying to express - Come along.. Follow me.. Continue on.. - he hand is held out with the fingers downward and a scooping motion is made to signify the meaning. The fingers are not held upwards as in Europe as this may be construed as being a little rude. The Turkish Trafik Polisi use this gesture when directing vehicles. |
| To signify you approval you should use the French method of holding the fingers and thumb together in an upright position.. Oooh la la..! |
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Finally never give the "thumbs up" gesture to signify that you like something. This gesture is obscene in Turkish and only used amongst males. It should be noted however that with the influx of tourism in turkey during the last twenty years that this hand sign is now acceptable by the mature and younger generation. When I was in Turkey in 1970's before Turkey had become a tourist trap then this sign was considered rude, and may well be now by the older generation. |
But - here is a comment from one of our correspondents - İlgin Ece Sahin
"By the way, that hand sign of thumbs up is not a rude sign generally. Since I've read that you stayed in Manisa and Izmir, I think the sign has something regional. South Western Anatolia has a different and very local culture, (it's sometimes very hard to understand local accent and vocabulary, even suffixes..!), and that "rude" thing may be some part of it. I assure you it won't make any problem anywhere else."