Naming DE razors in Arabic

[dgilman]

Okay, I've created a separate post for this, since there's a particular linguistic issue afoot. (You can read the larger continuing adventure here.) The weekend is about to start, so I should have the chance to head off to the districts of Cairo more likely to have DE razors for sale, either used or new. Describing this stuff accurately is an absolute bear in Arabic, as much for cultural reasons as for linguistic; everyone assumes that a Westerner like me could only want a plastic cartridge razor, so when I say "an old-fashioned razor with two blades" in Arabic, they think "twin-bladed cartridge razor." I want to make sure I'm saying something they can't easily misinterpret, since it's not always convenient to whip out a inkjet print-out of photos downloaded from shaving websites!

I figure that, if people can request and receive translations into and out of Russian on this board, then I may as well try my luck with Arabic. Can anyone check me on the phrasing? This is the best I've got so far, cribbed from the Arabic-language Wikipedia article on DE razors:

مكينة الحلاقة ذات شفرات على الحدين في الجنبين​

This is in very formal Arabic, so I'll sound like a newsreader knocking around the street corner, but I don't see any better way to put it. Do you?

 

[BBrad]

Since I don't know a thing about Arabic, I can't add one single intelligent comment, unless of course you are asking for "Machine with razor blades on the two extremes in the ribs."

Thanks to Google Translate, everyone can now get even more lost in their translations!!

Good luck on your adventure - I hope you are able to find some good buys and maybe a treasure or two!

 

[dgilman]

Quoth BBrad:

Since I don't know a thing about Arabic, I can't add one single intelligent comment, unless of course you are asking for "Machine with razor blades on the two extremes in the ribs."

Thanks to Google Translate, everyone can now get even more lost in their translations!!

Ah, Google Translate: not much use, except as entertainment! In case you're wondering how it got to that, what my phrase there actually says is:

"Machine of shaving, that which has blades upon the two edges on the two sides."

 

[john parker]

Have read of your quest with interest. Afraid I have no knowledge of arabic, but have you considered asking for an old "Gillette"? Maybe that would do the trick. Unless, of course, you end up getting shown a lot of Sensors!

 

[dgilman]

Have read of your quest with interest. Afraid I have no knowledge of arabic, but have you considered asking for an old "Gillette"? Maybe that would do the trick. Unless, of course, you end up getting shown a lot of Sensors!

John, you guessed it! My surmise, based on what I've seen so far, is that very few people had access to Gillette-branded DE razors, since Lord is the domestic brand and thus much cheaper to buy. Say the word "Gillette" nowadays and you are infallibly shown a cartridge razor of some kind. The Sensor seems to be what people most often think I want, before I show them photos of DE razors.

Amusing that, in a country with 5,000 years of history, asking for an old-fashioned razor makes people think you want the kind introduced way back in 1995!