blma9lob بالمقلوب
Moroccan Darija · adverb
“blma9lob” (بالمقلوب) is an adverb in Moroccan Darija meaning upside down, inside out.
Meanings
- upside down, inside out
- the wrong way round, against common sense
Usage
An adverbial phrase formed from b- ("with, by") and lmeqlub ("turned over"). It is used literally for a garment worn inside out or an object turned over: lbes t-tricou blmeqlub, "he put his T-shirt on inside out". Figuratively, which is very common, it means doing or understanding things the wrong way round, against logic: fhem blmeqlub, "to misunderstand". The register is colloquial and neutral. You also come across the variant bl3ekss, "on the contrary, the other way round", which does not have exactly the same meaning. Note that the article l- is fused to b-.
Example
فاهمين الحياة بالمقلوب
fahmin lhayat b lma9lob
“You understand life backwards.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “blma9lob” but also “blmaqlub” and “blm9lob”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.