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In Levantine Arabic, the expression "siri miri" (سِرِّي مِرِّي) is used for someone who continually and incessantly comes and goes, or passes by, such as like near your house or just about anywhere, to the point of absurdity. It can also be used for someone who frequently leaves and returns, going back and forth.

Examples:

This guy is passing by my house all the time, back and forth, nonstop. What is with this [insert idiom/term] behaviour?

This person is always going and returning. He is [insert term/expression] all the time. I wonder why.

EDIT:

There is NO DUPLICATION. The thread I made on the Kuwaiti Arabic idiom ("khiri miri") pertains to lack of rules, chaos and/or disorder. "Willy-nilly" seemed to be an appropriate English equivalent for it.

"Siri miri" is a Syrian expression that pertains to someone walking back & forth, or going and returning in a frequent manner. It does NOT pertain to haphazardness and disorder. Please don't be fooled by how the terms soundalike in Arabic, when they don't quite mean the same thing.

E.Groeg
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  • Can you be more specific about what you're looking for in terms of this answer? Are you looking for something that rhymes, are you looking for something formal? Are you looking for a single word or an idiom? – SlowlySwift Sep 24 '23 at 07:04
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    It wouldn't exactly fit in your sentences, but to and fro is an adverbial phrase referring to repeated 'coming and going' movement. "He's going to and fro past my house all the time." – Kate Bunting Sep 24 '23 at 08:27
  • One expression may fit to your last example : "He is constantly on the move". – Graffito Sep 24 '23 at 08:56
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    Is this behavior (to and fro) something typical of some people where you live? If so why do these people move to and from continually? – user 66974 Sep 24 '23 at 09:03
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    Does the guy come onto your property? - perhaps even enter your house unauthorised? Why does he keep passing by, and how do you come to be aware of this? Do you spend all day looking out your front window to see if any of the passers-by are repeats? I think the context is so bizarre we need much more info on what's actually going on before we can suggest idiomatic ways to refer to it in English. – FumbleFingers Sep 24 '23 at 12:18
  • @FumbleFingers There wasn't a way to give you two points for that comment, so I've given you one and deducted one from the question, pending further context to justify the description of the situation as an "absurdity". – TimR Sep 24 '23 at 13:02
  • Could just be a commuter. – Edwin Ashworth Sep 24 '23 at 13:14
  • It should be noted that there are a dozen different meanings of "come and go". – Hot Licks Sep 24 '23 at 13:27
  • Could be a would-be *burglar*, "casing the joint". – FumbleFingers Sep 24 '23 at 15:54
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    This seems really similar to https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/612333/what-is-a-term-or-idiom-for-someone-who-enters-and-exits-without-a-request-or/ The most upvoted and accepted answer given was willy nilly. – SlowlySwift Sep 24 '23 at 05:45
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    Does this answer your question? What is a term (or idiom) for someone who enters and exits without a request or order? – Casey Sep 25 '23 at 14:50
  • @SlowlySwift I'm happy with an informal or formal term, an idiom. Whatever fits. – E.Groeg Sep 28 '23 at 04:12
  • @Casey I just made an additional edit regarding this, to clear it out. I made the thread that you linked. The answers were very helpful and everything's resolved. In this case, "siri miri" pertains to coming and going, leaving and returning, incessantly and repetitively. It doesn't mean chaos and disorder, like the term in that question you linked. So the two expressions are different, even if somewhat similar. Thanks. – E.Groeg Sep 28 '23 at 04:14
  • @FumbleFingers The term is just simply used for someone who repetitively and annoying passes by, gets inside & out, goes back and forth. – E.Groeg Sep 28 '23 at 04:16
  • Well, I would give the exact same answer again. – Casey Sep 28 '23 at 04:24
  • @Casey You mean waltzing? It is acceptable. Fits better here though. – E.Groeg Sep 28 '23 at 05:06
  • You gave examples sentences with a blank and in the examples you've already mentioned "back and forth" and "going and returning". It didn't look like you are looking for an alternative to "going back and forth", and you've mentioned they're doing it to the point of absurdity. Erratic describes this behaviour and it fits your examples as the blanks require an adjective. – ermanen Sep 28 '23 at 05:59

4 Answers4

2

This guy is passing by my house all the time,

This guy is toing and froing by my house all the time,

to to and fro -

OED

As adverb:

1.a.Successively to and from some place, etc.; hence more vaguely: In opposite or different directions alternately; with alternating movement; from side to side; backwards and forwards; hither and thither; up and down.

1855 The pendulum which has been..swung to and fro, is at last about to settle. A. P. Stanley, Hist. Memorials Canterbury (1857) ii.

As verb to to and fro

VERB intransitive. To pass to and fro, to go hither and thither.

1904 Why all this secrecy about these to-ings and fro-ings? Westminster Gazette 28 November 2/2

From "The Room in the Dragon Volant (conclusion). Carmilla" By Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

I soon saw that it was a sooty-black animal that resembled a monstrous cat. It appeared to me about four or five feet long, for it measured fully the length of the hearth-rug as it passed over it; and it continued toing and froing with the lithe sinister restlessness of a beast in a cage.

Greybeard
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To and fro is a good suggestion,as is back and forth.

Here is Wiktionary: back and forth

Going from one place or position to another and back again.

The back and forth movement of the tide causes erosion of the coastline.

user405662
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Comings and goings

Has the sense of "constant in and out" (as per Google's definition):

Busy, active movements of many people, especially in and out of a place.

And as well as "arriving and leaving" (as per Collins' definition):

Comings and goings refers to the way people keep arriving at and leaving a particular place.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/comings-and-goings

Marty Kay
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This person is always popping in and out. I wonder why.

To pop in and out: to come and go frequently or casually; to visit for a short time, esp. without prior arrangement.

1846 He could have profited very little by his series of flying visits to all the sections which he kept popping in and out of. Times 19 September 4/2

1995 An informal arrangement opens the grandparents to conflicts with their own children, who can pop in and out of their lives. Minnesota Monthly January 130/2
[OED]

(Often pop in/out) go or come for a short time, often without notice.
Concise Oxford English Dictionary

Of course with Circe living here, maybe they're all used to people popping in and out of the neighborhood.
Mel Odom; I'll Zap Manhattan (1999)

Secretaries, who had never seen an American before, found excuses to pop in and out of the office, to ask about more refreshments, to bring a new plate of cookies, or just to stare at us through the open office door.
Martin Scheffer; In Post-Communist Worlds: Living and Teaching in Estonia (2009)

The praire-dogs have all got their holes, and though you may see 'em going about popping in and out of each other's houses, I fancy as they always keep to their own. But there's one hole which they all use, and that goes down to the water.
G. A. Henty; Times of War & Peril (2019)

DjinTonic
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