I wanted to make a short post about a Jordanian idiom that I was introduced to a few days ago, باكله بدون ملح (bakloo bidoon milH), which literally translates to “I eat him without salt”. In terms of when to use this particular idiom, it’s used in the context of a competition and has the effect of “I’m going to dominate you” or “You have no shot against me”. It can be used while playing or watching sports, video games, etc.

For instance, I was first introduced to the phrase when speaking with a longtime Jordanian friend, Rashed, about the ongoing NBA finals. We were talking about a potential matchup between Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors and Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers, which we expected to be a mismatch. Hence, Rashed could say:

غرين رح ياكله بدون ملح (Green ra7 yakloo bidoon milH), which translates to “Green will dominate him” or “Green will eat him alive”. Note that when using the future tense, you utilize the رح followed by the present tense verb without the ب letter.