Arabic Observations: The Cross-Linguistic-ness of “Eating” a Beating

الضَّرْب

root: ض-ر-ب / form I verbal noun / definition: beating, hitting

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I left the house this morning, planning to attend the 10:30am sit-down-and-write session at my university. But after window-(and actual)-shopping in Regent Street, I bought myself a matcha oat latte (why does everything have oats in nowadays?) and decided to work from a café instead.

I was actually very productive at the café, so I don’t regret the change of plans. Nor did I dislike the sociological observation—watching people like me, working independently on their laptops, and some brave eyes trying to make contact with others glued to screens, waiting for the right time to start up a conversation.

Thankfully for my introversion and productivity, no one tried to chat to me. And before I even finished my drink, I’d ticked off the main thing I needed to get done today.

But really, why do they not serve matcha without oat milk?

Oats aside, let’s talk Arabic.

A while back, I came across this phrase which made me pause:

الضَّرْب الّذي أَكَلَهُ

Literally: the beating that he ate

Hmm. This unfamiliar phrase instantly felt so familiar, and I didn’t need the dictionary or Google to decode its meaning.

In the Turkish language, we have the equivalent of أَكَلَ الضَرب: tokat/dayak yedi (literally: s/he ate a slap/beating). But it actually just means “to get slapped/beaten”.

So أكل الضرب (“to eat a beating”) is just another way to say ضُرِبَ (“to get beaten”)—just with a little more force and humiliation in the mix. Ouch.

I wonder, do other languages have this same structure? I mean, an equivalent of “eating a beating”? How far does the cross-linguistic element of this expression reach?

If you know of any examples, I’d love to hear them. Leave a comment below!

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!إلى اللقاء

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