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The Plain English Meanings of 
Featuring some of our special Turkish idiom favorites that just can't wait for their turn to come round in alphabetical order...
And don't overlook the clickable links for
voice recordings ![[Sounds]](spkicon.gif){kind=small} and for the sidebar entries entitled, The Rest of the Idiom Story which cover interesting 'origins' of the idioms found in the following table ...
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[C]
[Ç]
[D]
[E]
[F]
[G]
[H]
[I]
[i]
[L]
and more to come !! | ||||
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The Turkish |
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cami yIkIlmIs ama mihrabI yerinde |
the mosque has been toppled but the mihrab is still in place. Note: the 'mihrab' is the niche in the mosque wall that indicates the direction of Mecca. |
she may have aged but she's still good-looking |
YaslI, ama dinç kalmIs; cami yIkIlmIs ama mihrabI yerinde.
She's older but vigorous and active. And she's still good-looking in spite of her age. |
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çIktI dokuza inmez sekize
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he/she/it went up to nine, he/she/it won't come back to eight |
She increased her good/bad standing (to a level of nine), and now she can't regress (back to a level eight). |
Çok gururlu; çIkmIs dokuza, inmez sekize. He's so vain; he rose to a certain level and now he can't go back to what he was before. AdI kötüymüs; çIkmIs dokuza, inmez sekize.
She's got a bad reputation,
and she can't get her good name back.
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Dimyat'a pirince giderken evdeki bulgurdan olmak |
to be without bulgur at home when you go to Damietta for rice Note: Damietta (a.k.a. Dumyat or in ancient times, Phatnitic) is the Egyptian port at the mouth of the Nile whose market has always featured high quality rice. |
to lose what one already has in the pursuit of what one presumes to be better |
Ölçüsüz davrandI; Dimyat'a pirince giderken evdeki bulgurdan oldu.
He acted imprudently; he lost what he had in pursuit of what he thought would be better. Click for, The Rest of the Idiom Story! |
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el kesesinden sultanIm, develer olsun kurbanIm
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I am the sultan taking from the money-bags [of others], so let camels be the sacrifice. Note: The bigger the sacrificial animal the more money the sultan could collect. |
someone who spends a lot of money and who lives an ostentatious life with the money of others. |
ParasI yok, onuru yok; el kesesinden sultanIm, develer olsun kurbanIm, diyor. He doesn't have any money or honor. He says that he uses other people's money to live the ostentatious life. |
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fare deli
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to not fit into a mouse hole, to fasten a pumpkin to the tail |
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ArkadaslarInI da getirmis, fare deli [Can you believe] He also brought his friend with him? Why, he himself wasn't welcome -- and for him then to bring someone else along, well, it was really too much! |
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gecti Bor'un pazarI (sür esse
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the pazar at Bor is over (drive the stupid donkey to Ni |
you missed your chance, it's too late to do anything (about it) now |
O mal çoktan satIldI, gecti Bor'un pazarI. That merchandize was sold a long time ago, you missed your chance to buy it Click for, The Rest of the Idiom Story! |
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görüp görece
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This, with God's mercy, he sees and he will see |
this is all he will ever get |
OlanaklarI çok iyi de He gets the most out of situations considering the possiblities; you won't see any more. |
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hamamda deli var |
there's a madman in the Turkish bath |
there's a dangerous commotion in an area of interest to you so protect youself from wilfully destructive people |
Dikkatli olun hamamda deli var, isimizi baltalIyor.
Be careful, there's trouble brewing and it (someone) can wreck our business. |
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hem kel, hem fodul |
(to be both) bald and vain |
said of someone who makes great claims for himself, but who lacks competence in reality |
BIrak böyle konusmayI, yaptIklarIn ortada, senin gibilere hem kel hem fodul derler.
Quit talking like that, the things you do are [no more than] average. They call people like you "both bald and vain" |
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IsItIp IsItIp önüne koymak |
to warm and warm and put to the front |
to continuously repeat stories about the past to the point of weariness |
Çocuklu
He keeps repeating that boring story about what happened in his childhood. |
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to fail religious duties between two mosques |
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Uzun süredir iki cami arasInda kalmIs beynamaza döndü.
He took a long time -- unable to make up his mind which choice to make. |
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Majnun...Leili (Leyla, Layla, Leyli, Leila) |
The star-crossed lovers of eastern literature were the fair Leila [Layla, Leyli, Leili] and her gentleman-friend Majnun [Qays] |
Biz mecnunuz biz leylayIz.
We are madly/crazily in love. |
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The Unromantic Lout Right click for options to 'View' larger image... 
Thanks to:
Gözcu/Asabi Gazetesi, Gerçek YayIncIlIk A. S. (Mehmet Ali YalçInda and Volkan Atalay, creator of 'Maganda, The Lout' for this excellent illustrative example of the idiom above... Ankara (14 January 2001) | ||||
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