11 Passive Aggressive Things You Hear From Your Lebanese Teta

We all love our Lebanese teta very much. Not only does she make the best food ever, she also knows how to say the most passive aggressive things…unintentionally, of course.

We’re sure that you’ve heard at least 9 out of 11 of these passive aggressive things from your Lebanese teta.

1. “Sahtein habibi/habibte” when you order take out

Badal ma teklo her mjaddara? How dare you?

2. “Bravo ya teta, smalla 3layk/e” when you do well in your degree not related to healthcare, engineering, or law

What she really means: “Law daras/et handase mesh a7san?”

3. “Tabi3e el kel mashghoul hal eyem” when you make excuses for not calling/texting/visiting her

But what she ACTUALLY thinks is that you’re a terrible grandchild who doesn’t care to check on their teta.

4. “Baseeta” when it was, in fact, mesh baseeta

This is border-lining aggressive aggressive, not passive aggressive…

5. “Lebe2lak/ik l nos7an” regardless of whether or not you actually gained or lost weight

…thanks?

6. “Mbala jo3an/e” when you say you already ate

Whatever you do, never tell your teta that you’re not hungry.

7. “Shu hal sha3rat el helween”

When they are actually mesh helween in her eyes.

8. “Shu hal tyeb l helween”

Same as #7.

9. “Eh mazbout” when she disagrees with you completely

Especially when someone mentions politics.

10. “Eh ktir taybe l mloukhiye l bta3mela emmak/ik” but hers is better

Of course, hers is superior.

11. “Mneeha l 80/100” when she asks how you did on that one exam

It actually is mneeha but to her, anything that’s not 100/100 is bad. Now imagine you’re the underachieving grandchild with a straight As sibling…

So, how many of these passive aggressive things have you heard from your Lebanese teta?

If you enjoyed this read, you might also like:

11 Things Your Lebanese Teta Probably Loves More Than You

13 Memories From Sleepovers At Your Lebanese Grandparents’ House