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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe meaning of Covefefe ..in Arabic. Why would Trump be speaking Arabic?
From twitter..
#Covfefe Katica
Trump: Who can figure out the true meaning of "covfefe"?
@thedonaldreddit:
cov fe'fe is Arabic for "I will stand up" or "Will you stand up"
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If true then some say it gives a deeper meaning to Hillary's reply:
Hillary Clinton ✔ @HillaryClinton
"People in covfefe houses shouldn't throw covfefe."
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Trump tweet was mocked & brushed off as idiocy & the tweeting of a old guy asleep at the wheel.
That's what was presumed until the Arabic meaning was revealed.
Who was he talking to, IF the word was intentional?
Whatever it was, I just wanted to throw this out there.
Its not for argument but just for ..hmmm..
Not just for CTists anymore.
Does anyone know for certain the meaning in Arabic?
luvMIdog
(2,533 posts)in Arabic.
Edited to add:
The guy barely speaks English. I think whoever wrote is really reaching.
Plus they don't use the phrase 'will you stand up' because they would be using that more for asking someone to get off the ground or out of a chair. More likely they would say something like 'resist'.
'Will you stand up?' is something like this: ' Hell min fudlick elwuqoof'. Transliterating is not fun
mhw
(678 posts)luvMIdog
(2,533 posts)mhw
(678 posts)He's just the public distraction while the coup is being completed.
The coup is "lightly done"?
Perhaps it is another language. Maybe Russian..or?
rusty fender
(3,428 posts)are really going with the whole Arabic word thing, e.g. Cassandra Fairbanks, who claims that Google translates it from the Arabic. I didn't plug covfefe into Google because I assume that it is a fabrication that it is an Arabic word. Even if it means something in Klingon, there's no way Boss Tweet would know that.
The Trumpasses are full of bullshit
Shandris
(3,447 posts)Into arabic at that, as I posted last night? Is it a mistake in the translator?
luvMIdog
(2,533 posts)There is no V sound in Arabic, so it has to be wrong.
Taken from wikibooks just now:
Sounds in English only[edit]
In case you mistakenly think that Arabic has more sounds than English, the following sounds do not exist in Arabic, with the sounds that are usually substituted for them in borrowed words.
v (f)
p (b)
g (j in Egypt, usually gh, q, or k elsewhere in order of descending occurrence)
r is very close but is always rolled (similar to Spanish r)
As mentioned above, in Arabic the corresponding letter to q (ق makes a different sound than the corresponding letter to k (ك .
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Arabic/Arabic_sounds
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,173 posts)The phonetic translation of "I will stand up" in Arabic is "sawf 'aqif."
https://translate.google.com/#en/ar/I%20will%20stand%20up.
"Will you stand up?" translates phonetically to "sawf tqf?"
https://translate.google.com/#en/ar/Will%20you%20stand%20up%3F
I saw someone on Facebook (an elected official, no less) passing this off and suggest that Trump was being a masterful genius and trolling us all.
luvMIdog
(2,533 posts)Many many things do not translate well. They are not the same society and culture that we are. Many of the phrases that we use are not used in their culture/language as I tried to explain before when they say " will you stand up they mean to get up from a sitting position or to get up from on the ground/floor etc. It does not mean to' take a stand'. Or some things will translate but mean something entirely different to them.
This is one reason telling jokes that you translate will fall flat or insult many times. Plus there are many dialects in Arabic.
The google translator might translate a phrase from English , that doesn't guarantee an Arab would have any idea what the heck you were trying to say to them, because they do not turn a phrase the same way we do.
Shandris
(3,447 posts)I've been using it to doublecheck my Japanese for years now, and predictably enough, translating something one direction doesn't make it the same the other direction (and vice versa. Tense and native usage also make a difference.
For instance, in Japanese there are MANY different words that mean stand, but typically one is used to mean the standing of a person who is standing, while another one means that they will stand, and yet another means that they are in the act of standing up at this moment (or any of the verb tenses thereof).
I don't know arabic in the slightest, I'm just pointing this out. I do not know if this could be the case, but as I have said thrice now, cov fe'fe translates IN GOOGLE TRANSLATE as 'I will stand up'. That is ALL I know, other than that another poster believes it is fake (and I'm inclined to agree, but I prefer to drill down until I KNOW).
Does NO ONE know an actual arabic speaker?
Edit: ANNNNND I just noticed a post directly above mine basically saying the same thing lol. Sorry, didn't mean to pile on.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,173 posts)I've been doing double checks of Japanese people for years using this, but one way translation as expected does not make it the same as the other direction (and vice versa.
For example, in Japanese, there are many different words meaning stands, but typically it is used to mean the position of a standing person, another means to stand, and Another meaning stands at this moment (or one of the tense of the verb).
I do not know Arabic at all, I point out this. I do not know if this is the case, but I said three times now, but cov fe'fe translates "I stand up." It is everything I know, other than that I believe it is fake (I tend to agree, but I like to drill down until I know).
Does anyone know the actual Arabic speaker?
Regarding the issue, the New York Times has weighed in:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/us/politics/covfefe-trump-arabic.html?_r=0
Covfefe, these people on the internet insist, is Arabic for I will stand up. That is not even close to true. We asked Ali Adeeb Alnaemi, a professor of Arabic at New York University, what he thought of this translation, which has been falsely spread online by anonymous Reddit users with screen names like PepeTheRacistFrog.
Mr. Alnaemi, who previously worked for The New York Times in Baghdad, made a good-faith effort to see where this mistranslation may have come from. In a phone interview, he repeated the word covfefe several times before finally laughing. Come on, he said. Im sorry. No.
luvMIdog
(2,533 posts)Shandris
(3,447 posts)The good professor should let Google know that for some reason, cov fe'fe translates to سوف فقف
Which according to Google, is 'sawf faqaf' (in Romanization obviously). Which HAS to be some kind of user-generated thing, I suppose, because the two look nothing alike.
Looks like it's changed a little since last night, too. I don't recall that being the Romanization (but I was pretty tired and it was late, so do forgive me if I'm wrong on that).
Methinks something froggy is afoot!
luvMIdog
(2,533 posts)mhw
(678 posts)someone with more knowledge on the subject than I, willtake it apart till we have some reasonable conclusion.
I really enjoy group discussion of 'what ifs & but maybe or perhaps'.
Sans beligerance, this is why I like DU.
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)couldn't provide a translation. Then it asked me if I meant coffee.
wildeyed
(11,243 posts)I doubt he could master Arabic or Russian.
luvMIdog
(2,533 posts)carry on lol