5 phrases that mean something else when you're Lebanese

Lebanese have a way with everything. You can say one word and end up being the butt of all jokes for the next few weeks. Or you can do something and then everyone talks about you like there's no tomorrow.

But it's not always a bad thing. They just have a way with Lebanese-ing everything. That's part of the charm.

It's clearly not. Why are you lying?

In normal terms: "May your house get ruined." (Not something you want to say to anyone.)

In Lebanese terms: An acceptable figure of speech that makes it completely acceptable for you to wish something horrible or something positive on a person.

Please leave my house out of it. I need a place to live!

In normal terms: It's a perfectly valid question to ask out of curiosity...

In Lebanese terms: The answer can mean you're either incredibly smart, incredibly hardworking or incredibly lazy. Either way, get ready to be thrown under the bus for the rest of your life by your friends, family and basically society itself.

In normal terms: It's a simple question you ask when you want to know where someone is from.

In Lebanese terms: It's an indirect way for someone to violate your privacy and to find out where you're from, what family you're from and what religion you belong to.

I'm not mesteheye. But if I engage you, I'd be enabling the annoying part of you that feels the need to start talking to me. Then you'll end up thinking I actually like you. I don't.