# Translate this Arabic?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/690897>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 16, 2014, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/690897 "2014-06-16T11:59:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/690897/1 "2014-06-16T11:59:56Z")

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Or at least Arabic appearing. [Pic](http://s294.photobucket.com/user/badger60/media/006_zpsee60b4fd.jpg.html#/user/badger60/media/006_zpsee60b4fd.jpg.html). And, if it is translatable, is it remotely what the English above it says?

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**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/690897/2 "2014-06-17T14:27:59Z")

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> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#):
>
> Or at least Arabic appearing. [Pic](http://s294.photobucket.com/user/badger60/media/006_zpsee60b4fd.jpg.html#/user/badger60/media/006_zpsee60b4fd.jpg.html). And, if it is translatable, is it remotely what the English above it says?

Looks more like Farsi than Arabic to me. Is this from the movie Dead on Arrival? My guess is that it’s an early form of subtitling, so it probably is a translation of “Here lie the remains of Raymond Rakubian”.

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/690897/3 "2014-06-17T15:17:34Z")

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Aw, heck. There goes my chance to post a snarky response to my own thread thanking all the people who had contributed to it.

Anyway, I forgot that I have an acquaintance who is a bona fide Arabian (who speaks fluent, flawless English), and I sent the pic to him (to at least see whether it was Arabic, something else, or just gibberish). Yes, it’s basically a clumsily worded translation of the English, reading “Rakubian late Raymond lies here.” I guess putting the last name out of place made the script a little more symmetric, and in the late 1940s, they probably thought it was a slim chance that anyone would ever try to translate it.

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**Author:** ![Dana\_Scully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5daacb/32.png) [@Dana\_Scully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dana_Scully)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/690897/4 "2014-06-17T16:03:25Z")

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The real meaning is probably something like, “_ **Death To The Blue-Eyed Yankee Infidels** _” 🙂

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**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/690897/5 "2014-06-17T16:09:39Z")

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Derk derk Allah, Muhammad jihad. Harpa sherpa sherpa. Derk-Allah.

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**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/690897/6 "2014-06-17T16:25:44Z")

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Everybody loves Raymond…