A little history: My wife and I have 3 cats in our family, one who is
very attached to me and constantly wants to sit in my lap.
Occassionaly when I have to get up, I utter the phrase "Ep-Shi!
Ep-Shi!" to get her moving so I can stand up.
The source of the phrase is from "Indiana Jones/Raiders of the Lost
Ark".
When Sallah and Indy are digging at the Well of Souls in Tannis, they
strike stone and Sallah commands the workers to get the prybars and
then speaks this phrase.
I am assuming the phrase is Arabic (or some similar language), and I
am absoulutely unsure of the spelling. Phoenetically, it sounds like I
have written above. I have searched for transcripts of the movie to
try and find an exact spelling with no luck, so I can't help there.
Well, for the past two years or so, I have had my wife convinced that
it was arabic for "Move Kitty", but as we were watching this movie the
other night together, we saw this scene and she busted me...
So to save some face, I was hoping someone could find out the literal
translation of this phrase for me. I am fairly certain that it means
"Let's Go!" or "Hurry Up!" but would like something to back it up
with.
One or more links with a definition or a use in context would be
sufficient.

---

Clarification of Question by flajason-ga on 04 Mar 2003 05:18 PST

pinkfreud -

After pondering that scene in my head a bit, I believe you are
correct.
I could have very easily confused a hard "M" sound with his accent for
a "P."
In recalling the scene, he seemed very frustrated with his workers and
may have been ordering them to get away from him.
I also seriously doubt the producers of the film were going for 100%
accuracy with the language.

Also, since your theory coincides with my current usage of the phrase,
I will endeavor to pronounce it correctly from now on.

If you would like to post your comment as an answer, I will gladly
accept and award a ***** rating for your efforts.

Thanks...
FlaJason

FlaJason,

Thank you very much for accepting my comment as an answer. I have
reposted it below.

==============================

My theory is that what is being said by Sallah in that scene is
"imshi!" In Egyptian Arabic, this is a somewhat vulgar way to tell
someone to go away.
 
"Go away (said to children who are bothering you) - Imshi" 
 
http://www.egyptvoyager.com/tourinfo_gettingaround_commonarabicphrases_1.htm
 
"Imshi: verb WWI & II Military to go away. Also, imshee. [from
Egyptian Arabic]"
 
http://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/p/dictionary/slang-i.html 
 
"Imshi (Arabic), get to hell out of here!" 
 
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext04/ivtra10.txt 
 
"Assistants scurry in and out with rugs, and you say "Imshi!" (take it
away)..."
 
http://neil.verplank.org/travel/Africa/1.htm  
 
"Please do not say 'imshi' to keep the hasslers away.  My friend and I
spent some time in Fez during October and were told that that phrase
is only used with dogs.  It mean 'shoo, get away'  but is very
insulting when used with people."
 
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=3660FE7B.8B45E5EE%40ibm.net&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain
 
==============================

My search strategy in locating "imshi" as the probable word in
question involved visits to numerous sites which discussed the
colloquial use of Arabic. I located these sites with a Google search
using the keyphrases "arabic phrasebook," "arabic dictionary," and
"arabic language." None of the sites listed "epshi," but many gave
definitions of "imshi," which seemed to be a likely alternative.

Thanks for asking a question that led me on an interesting search.
Fortunately, during my quest no rolling boulders pursued me, no large
men came at me with scimitars, and I did not find myself in a tomb
full of snakes.

Best wishes,
pinkfreud

Exactly what I was looking for!

My theory is that what is being said by Sallah in that scene is
"imshi!" In Egyptian Arabic, this is a somewhat vulgar way to tell
someone to go away.

"Go away (said to children who are bothering you) - Imshi"

http://www.egyptvoyager.com/tourinfo_gettingaround_commonarabicphrases_1.htm

"Imshi: verb WWI & II Military to go away. Also, imshee. [from
Egyptian Arabic]"

http://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/p/dictionary/slang-i.html

"Imshi (Arabic), get to hell out of here!"

http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext04/ivtra10.txt

"Assistants scurry in and out with rugs, and you say "Imshi!" (take it
away)..."

http://neil.verplank.org/travel/Africa/1.htm 

"Please do not say 'imshi' to keep the hasslers away.  My friend and I
spent
some time in Fez during October and were told that that phrase is only
used with
dogs.  It mean 'shoo, get away'  but is very insulting when used with
people."

http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=3660FE7B.8B45E5EE%40ibm.net&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain

Sorry I can't give you a definitive answer. Perhaps another Researcher
will be able to find an "ep-shi" for you, but until then, you might
consider saying "imshi" to the cat. The fact that this is commonly
said to dogs should make the word extra offensive to a proud feline.
;-)

Yes, what was written in Egyptian accent is right (to tell someone one
to go), but in classical Arabic which unfortunately many people even
(Arabs) doesn't know, this word is the plural of the word (pshi) which
means:
Smiling, cheerful, bright-faced, good-humored.

And to support you idea tell them to bring an Arabic lexicon like (
Almoheet Or Lesan Al-Arab) to make sure from this.

;) Good luck

Thank you for the five stars and the tip!

~pinkfreud