bouchoun بوشون
Algerian Darja · noun
“bouchoun” (بوشون) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning bottle stopper or cap.
Meanings
- bottle stopper or cap
- in an idiom: left in the lurch
Usage
Bouchoun is an adapted loanword from French and is very common. It refers to the stopper or cap of a bottle, a can or a pen. It has two plurals: bwachen and bouchounat. The figurative expression "khellitni qer3a bla bouchoun" literally means "you left me like a bottle without a stopper". It means being let down, left unprotected or left without an answer. It is often used jokingly. The word does not mean "traffic jam", although it does in French.
Example
سد البوشون تاع القرعة
sedd el bouchoun ta3 el qer3a
“Put the cap back on the bottle.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “bouchoun” but also “bouchoune”, “bouchon” and “bochon”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.