In beckoning children the hand is held about as high as and near the shoulder, the palm downwards and the fingers shutting back and forth to the palm while “Come, come” is said. To hold all the fingers together and the hand, palm upward, about the height of the hip, means a threat like “You’ll see.”
Of curses[[185]] there is a very great variety, expressive of animosity,[[186]] disgust[[187]] and impatience.[[188]] Many of the formulæ are shortened until only the direction and object of the curse are left in the expression. So, should you hear some one say impetuously to another, “Your father,” “Your eyes,” “Your breast,” or “Your faith,” you might know that a curse was intended with these as the objects. The verb la‛ana, yal‛anu, which signifies cursing, is generally understood. The curses are sometimes very indirectly aimed at the victim, as, for instance, when a donkey driver cursed a stumbling donkey with Abu jiddak, literally, “Cursed be the father of your grandfather.” The curser may in this circular way of attack reach even himself without apparently minding the implication, as when a man driving donkeys along the road became angry at one of them and shouted, “May your owner go into the grave.”
Colloquialisms and stories tend to pass into proverbs. The East is very rich in proverbial expressions, and the Arabic language has been used for the utterance of many thousands of them. The apt introduction and quotation of proverbs is considered an elegant accomplishment by conversationalists. Some of the proverbs are accompanied by explanatory stories telling how the proverb in each instance arose. Then there are expressions that are tending to the proverbial form. Some of these latter will be mentioned first.
Moslems are accredited with the saying that the bobbing ḥirdhôn (lizard) is praying.
When three or more persons in one place are found to have the same name the people say, “There must be a treasure about.”
Of the kind of young man slangily known among us as a masher the Palestinian says, “He has a heavy shadow.”
Of a miscellaneous pocketful of things, such as a boy might carry, they say, Mithl jerab il-ḳurdy, “Like the Kurd’s pocket.” This is from the story told of a Kurd who had lost his wallet-pocket by theft. When the thief was found the Kurd was asked in court to describe the pocket and its contents. He described the pocket accurately enough, but in telling the contents he named over thing after thing until he had mentioned a catalogue of much that the world contains.
With reference to the infection of yawning the story is told of a man who was riding a camel in the desert. The camel yawned and then the rider yawned. The rider said to the camel, “I took my yawn from you; from whom did you take yours?”
In a class of native youth learning the English language one of the boys lost his bearings and was unable to follow what the rest of the class was saying, so he mumbled Mithl akhras fy zeffeh. He meant, “I am like a dumb man at a wedding procession.” On such occasions a ready tongue is quite necessary.
When one does a foolish or witless thing, another is apt to say impatiently to him, Kathîr minnâk thîrân, that is, freely, “There are many oxen of your kind.”