«عَرَايَا مقَفْقِفِينْ جَابُوا بْعَشَاهُمْ يَاسْمِينْ»

The image is of people with no clothes, trembling from the cold, who still take the money meant for their evening meal and buy fragrant jasmine with it. They choose a fleeting pleasure over food and warmth, the two things they lack most.

The saying mocks anyone who spends what an urgent need requires on something agreeable that does nothing to relieve that need. In Arabic, the end-rhyme between مقفقفين and ياسمين gives the line a jingling, teasing ring.

Used as a wry rebuke when someone with pressing unmet needs spends scarce money on a pleasant but useless luxury. It suits remarks about poor budgeting or misplaced priorities.