Insults & Shoe Throwing

Photo taken from: huffingtonpost.com

Following the recent shoe-throwing incident by Iraqi journalist, Muntadar al-Zaidi, (reporter with Cairo-based network Al Baghdadia Television), this particular blog update is dedicated to explaining some of the insults used by Arabs.




Image taken from: msnbc

Firstly though I'll try to explain why throwing a shoe is such an insult within the Arab world. Shoes step on dirt and indicate a person who is filthy dirty and is equivalent to the dirt found on the floor. As an aside, and for the same reason, it's also an insult to show someone the bottom of your shoe.

Throwing a shoe and shouting the words, "This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!" followed by another shoe and the words, "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq!" Is probably the ultimate insult of all time. It appears the shoes sailed over the president's head in more ways than one.

From my viewpoint it appears many of the words used to insult another person in the Arabic language are derived from the animal kingdom and in each of the examples below, the male version of the word has been given.

If you'd like to insult a female just add the sound ‘aH’ to the end of each word, or as a suffix. For example a male bear is refered to as a, 'doob' and a female bear is referred to as a, 'doob-aH'.






Insults for Males & Females
bear [doob]
too fat

bull [thorr]
big and stupid

cow [bug-qaH-rarr]
useless

dog [khel-bh]
dirty person (although dogs were apparently not liked by the Prophet Mohammed, as stated in a Hadith, or one of the 'extra Quranic' books, they are mentioned in the Quran; 7:176, 18:18, 18:22. In Afghanistan apparently the ultimate insult is, 'dog washer'.

donkey [ho-maarr]
stupid. Also, 'cuss ho-marr' or 'donkey's cunt'

insect [hash-aa-rrah]
the lowest creature

monkey [soo-baal]
ugly looks and it seems you’re trying to get one over me by acting cute, but you aren’t

owl [boom-merr]
a nosy, interfering and old woman

pig [khan-zeerr]
filthy animal (Muslims don't eat pork or pork products, as forbidden in the Quran; 5:3)

scorpion [agg-rraab]
a tricky person who plays games behind my back


Insults specifically used against females
ya marrah [yaa maa-raH] literally, 'come here now woman'
ya binti [yah bint-tee] my female, literally, 'you belong to me'