There is something known as ‘foreword’ and something known as ‘afterword’ which appears in some books published in English. Could the author here mean ‘foreword and afterword’? In a humorous vein of course?I forgot to add an explanation for the second part of your query..
پیش لفظ is the usual construction for the English "foreword" but پس و پیش لفط means something different I believe.
پَس means "after" and پیش means "before".
So, in toto, the meaning could be...
We were dozing off after and before speaking...... or in another words....We were dozing off during the conversation.
Let's see if other friends have a more reasonable explanation.
Edit. پس و پیش کرنا means " To shuffle, prevaricate, boggle; to hesitate, demur, doubt. "
Yes, this is certainly a possibility. To be frank, I am not sure exactly what the author's intention is. Mushtaq Yusufi was known for play on words, e.g sar-guzasht means what one has lived through. I believe one of his books is called zar-guzasht. where zar literally means gold but also wealth, as in zar, zan aur zamiin (apparently three main sources of feud).There is something known as ‘foreword’ and something known as ‘afterword’ which appears in some books published in English. Could the author here mean ‘foreword and afterword’? In a humorous vein of course?
