‎يا شعيرة ..عِيرِة-اللهجة الفلسطينية

The saying “Ya sha‘ireh ‘eireh” is used when a tiny piece of news gets passed from person to person until everybody knows about it.

In an apartment building full of women, no secret ever stayed a secret.

One time, a girl named Mais got engaged, and the engagement was still very new. Her family kept saying:
“Don’t tell anyone.”

Mais herself only told her very close friend.

But her friend told her sister.

And her sister told the neighbor.

By the end of the day… the whole neighborhood knew.

Even the vegetable seller, when he saw Mais’s mother, said:
“Congratulations on the engagement!”

Mais’s mother stopped in shock and said:
“Who told you?!”

She went back home upset, walked into the living room, and said:
“What is this neighborhood?! Ya sha‘ireh ‘eireh… one tiny word got passed around until the whole area heard about it!”

Mais sat there frustrated, because she realized that in their neighborhood, a secret never stays a secret.