ديرة بطيخ

Gulf Arabic

Etymology

From Gulf Arabic ديرة (dīra, “city, state, place”) in the construct state and بطيخ (baṭṭīḵ, “cantaloupe”), literally "cantaloupe country". The phrase has an uncertain origin, with folk etymologies mentioning a story of a failed investment in Kuwait City, a British man of authority in Kuwait under the British role whose last name was Watermelon, a story of a man giving a cantaloupe to a guard of a cemetery, historical rights for cantaloupe and/or watermelon sellers to the gates of the historical Wall of Kuwait, and other stories. In Kuwaiti Arabic, cantaloupes are called بطيخ (baṭṭīḵ) but watermelons are رقي (raggi). However, most other varieties of Arabic call watermelons by the former, thus the original meaning of the phrase could have been "watermelon country" if the phrase is borrowed or if the distinction did not exist when the phrase emerged.

Pronunciation

• (Kuwait) IPA^(key): /diːrət bətˤːiːχ/

Noun

ديرة بطيخ • (dīrat baṭṭiḵ) f (dual ديرتين بطيخ (dīrtēn baṭṭiḵ), plural ديرات بطيخ (dīrāt baṭṭiḵ) or دير بطيخ (diyar baṭṭiḵ))

1. a city, state in bad shape, a country rife with wasta (cronyism)
   • 2016 March 3, علي البصيري [ʿali il-Bṣēri], “ديرة بطيخ”, in جريدة الشاهد [Alshahed Newspaper (Kuwait)]‎^[1], archived from the original on 15 July 2018:

     تَحَسُّرًا عَلَىٰ بَلَدِهِ الَّذِي غَدَا دِيرَةْ بَطِّيخْ لَا يُحْتَرَمُ فِيهِ الْإِنْسَانُ

     taḥassuran ʕalā baladihi allaḏī ḡadā dīrat baṭṭīḵ lā yuḥtaramu fīhi l-ʔinsānu

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2006 May 5, هيفاء الصقر [Haifaʾ iṣ-Ṣagir], “ديرة البطيخ”, in جريدة القيس [Alqabas Newspaper (Kuwait)]‎^[2]:

     كَثِيرًا مَا نَسْمَعُ فِي دِيرَتْنَا مَقُولَةَ 'دِيرَةْ بَطِّيخْ' وَالْكَثِيرُ مِنَ الْاَشْخَاصِ يَجْهَلُونَ مَعْنَىٰ هَذِهِ الْمَقُولَةِ. فَ'دِيرَةْ بَطِّيخْ' مَقُولَةٌ مُتَدَاوَلَةٌ كَثِيرًا لَدَىٰ الْمُتَشَائِمِينَ بِاَوْضَاعِ الْبَلَدِ مِنْ جَمِيعِ النَّوَاحِي، سِيَاسِيَّةً كَانَتْ أَوْ اِقْتِصَادِيَّةً أَوْ اِجْتِمَاعِيَّةً، فَالْمَقْصُودُ بِهَا اَنَّ قَوَانِينَ الْبَلَدِ وَاللَّوَائِحَ فِيهِ لَا تُطَبَّقُ اَيْ اَنَّهَا تَسِيرُ عَلَىٰ الْبَرَكَةِ وَتَكْثُرُ فِيهَا الْوَاسْطَاتْ، لِذٰلِكَ اَطْلَقَ عَلَيْهَا اَلْبَعْضُ 'دِيرَةْ بَطِّيخْ'

     kaṯīran mā nasmaʕu fī dīratnā maqūlata 'dīrat baṭṭīḵ' wālkaṯīru mina l-ašḵāṣi yajhalūna maʕnā haḏihi l-maqūlati. fa'dīrat baṭṭīḵ' maqūlatun mutadāwalatun kaṯīran ladā l-mutašāʔimīna biawḍāʕi l-baladi min jamīʕi n-nawāḥī, siyāsiyyatan kānat ʔaw iqtiṣādiyyatan ʔaw ijtimāʕiyyatan, fālmaqṣūdu bihā anna qawānīna l-baladi wallawāʔiḥa fīhi lā tuṭabbaqu ay annahā tasīru ʕalā l-barakati watakṯuru fīhā l-wāsṭāt, liḏālika aṭlaqa ʕalayhā l-baʕḍu 'dīrat baṭṭīḵ'

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)