Have you ever gotten in a taxi in an Arab country and sat through the journey without being interrogated by the driver? Sometimes you wonder if they even know where to draw the line…

So anyway, one of the most popular questions that Arabs love to ask is “Who do you take after? Your mom or your dad?”

However, is it even a genuine question? Most of the time, the question is asked in an attempt to judge you for your behavior/personality and attribute it to someone (i.e your parents.) Mothers say it to attribute their children’s negative behavioral traits to the fathers and vice versa.

So before I go even further, let’s see what the question is in Arabic.

Who do you take after?

انت لمين طالع/ طالعة؟

enta la meen thaale3/thaal3ah

انت طالع/ طالعة على مين؟

enta thaale3/thaal3ah 3ala meen

Do you take after your mom or your dad?

لامك ولا لابوك؟

la imak wala la abuk

Often, the answer is unsurprising.

مبين عليك

mbaiyin 3alaik

Yeah it’s pretty obvious 

What’s even better is when Arabs skip the question completely and go directly to expressing their view on who you truly take after.

انا بقول لمين طالع\ طالعة

ana ba2ul la meen thaale3/ thaal3ah

Let me tell (you) who you take after

شكلك طالع على ابوك

sheklak thaale3 3ala abuk

 It seems like you take after your dad

In other words…

I’m judging you.

for your absent-mindedness/ stubbornness/ laziness/ short temper & all other negative traits that you possibly inherited from either one of your parents

This whole “who do you take after” thing can even be said when you’re exasperated with someone’s ridiculous behavior.

مش عارفة لمين طالعة هيك هبلة

mesh 3arfeh la meen thaal3ah haek habla

I (f) don’t know who you take after for being this stupid

& of course, you can tell the person who he/she takes after for his/her positive traits or physical features 

طالع لابوه نفس العيون

thaale3 la abuu nafsil 3ayuun

He has his dad’s eyes

Idioms

Since we’re already on this topic, I will share 2 idioms that carry the English equivalent of  “Like father like son” and “Like mother like daughter.”

Like Father Like Son:

فرخ البط عوام

farakh elbat 3awam

(the son of a duck is a floater)

Like Mother Like Daughter:

طب الجرة على تمها بتطلع البنت لامها

thob eljara 3ala temha bteTla3 elbenet la imha

There’s definitely a backstory as to how this idiom comes about since the literal translation makes little sense.

Anyway, below is a clip from a famous Lebanese show that illustrates the idiom pretty well. As you can see from the video, the father used the idiom to attribute his daughter’s antics to the mother.

That’s it, folks!

Take care and I’ll see ya in the hosh,

Lyn

The post How to be an Inquisitive Arab #1 -“Who do you take after?” + idioms! appeared first on theLevanTongue.