How loud can you Shout?

We're in the middle of nowhere in Thailand and ahead of us are two men shouting into a public phone. 

Seriously, they would have given a vuvuzela a run for its money.  I turned to my husband and said, "They must be Arabs" . As we came up close enough to the two gentlemen to work out where they were from, it turned out they were Arabs. 

After 25 years of observation, the theory with shouting appears to be, 'the louder I shout the more likely it is I'm going to get my own way.  If the person being shouted out does not give me what I want I will shout louder and louder, and louder and louder, in a cresending noise until the other person bows to my wishes'.

At times it's like being sprayed with verbal paint stripper.  And hense the vuvuzela on the phone outside this rural 7-11 coldstore. 

Sure enough, as we walked up to the two men ahead of us we could translate the almost visible wall of screams.  The Bahraini wanted the bank to send him, immediately, now, not tomorrow, not yesterday, but NOW, "arr-baa-a wa kham-seen alf dollar".

So you Want to Speak Arabic Like a Native?

Sent to me by a Saudi male friend who thought it hillarious, one American's thoughts on some often used Arabic phrases.  There's some swearing in one or two of the sketches and some cross-cultural teasing in others ...

Scorpions

I found one of these little critters in my bath yesterday:

Image taken from: www.kabbalahzen.blogspot.com



Whilst I was having a shower I looked down and saw him, or maybe her, happily sitting by the plug hole.  I had no idea what it was and could only imagine it was a large eary-wig.  So we stood looking at each other for a long minute and then it dawned on me it might ~excitingly~ be a real live scorpion.

I was all fingers and thumbs and simply wanted to move it back down the plug hole.  As I moved the shower head over its head the tail came up, just like in the movies, and it stung its neck ~quite amazing stuff~

So I'm naked in the shower thinking how wonderful nature is and husband is running around the house looking for a murder weapon shouting, "DON'T TOUCH IT, IT WILL KILL YOU.  DOOOO NOOOT TOOOUCH  ITTTTTTTT"


Overview
Because I know so little about scorpions or their lifestyle I'll let the Sharjah Breeding Centre describe a bit more:

"Arabian thick-tailed scorpion, also known as 'Androctonus Crassicauda' is commonly found in sandy desert areas with some plant cover. It is one of the larger species of scorpion with an adult measuring 10-15 cm in length (from the head to the tip of the tail).

One characteristic of this scorpion is the tail being thicker than the pincers. This is also an indication that a scorpion has a more toxic venom than species where the tail is proportionately thinner than the pincers (Scorpionidae). The scorpion's venom, although seldom fatal, can be very painful and requires medical attention.

The species is nocturnal and emerges from its burrow at dusk to hunt for food. They are attracted to light and areas with higher humidity. When threatened, the tail with the sting presented will be held above the abdomen, but the scorpion will only strike if agitated as the production of venom takes a lot of energy. The scorpion will generally take flight if disturbed and will only attack if provoked.

It goes without saying, all bites and stings should be treated as soon as possible, and where necessary, medical attention must be sought. If possible, the animal that has inflicted the bite or sting should be collected for identification purposes."


By the way ...
In Arabic, the word scorpion [agg-rraab] is used as an insult {see wgaw insults} and means 'a tricky person who plays games behind my back.'

The Shoe Matrix

I had wanted to fill the month of Ramadan with blog posts only about Ramadan and Ramadan activities.  It seemed to be one way of explaining the length of time people fast for, as well attempting to highlight the importance of the month within the Arab and Islamic world.

Now it's over it feels like time to post a few of the more light-hearted blogposts recieved during the past month. First up is President George Bush in the new matrix shoe movie:

For a full explanation of what shoe throwing means in the Arab world see wgaw archive: SHOE THROWING

Washing Up

Although this subject, 'washing up' is a minute point, when I first came across it it stopped me in my tracks.

How could something so simple be carried out in a way so completely different to what I'd always experienced?  And why on earth would anyone do it differently from the way I'd always done it?

It really did amaze me and it was the thing that started me thinking about cross-cultural communication and how absolutely everything can be different in someone else's culture.


Washing up in England
I was brought up in England where we'd always do the washing up in a bowl.  Gloves were always worn (to protect your hands) and then the taps would be turned on.  The water would run into the washing up bowl until the bowl was full and then they would be turned off.

The dirty washing would then be put into the bowl and the washing-up liquid added to the water.  Bubbles then appear and you'd use a mop or cloth to clean the dishes.  Once the crockery was clean from the meal left-overs, the dishes would be stood vertically in a rack to dry.


Washing up in the GCC
In the Middle East none of the above happens.

Washing up liquid is put into a container which stands at the side of the sink for the duration of the washing up activity. Water is added to the container and made into a thick liquid which is used to clean the dishes. The tap is turned on and left running.

The person doing the washing up (often a servant or house boy), picks up the plates one by one, dips the sponge ~I don't even know if you can buy a w-up mop, I should look~ into the washing up liquid continer at the side of the sink, cleans the plate and then puts the sponge back in the container at the side of the sink.

The plate is then put under the running tap again and all traces of the soap suds are washed away (it is deemed unhyginic to leave soap suds on a plate you will eat from).  The plate is then turned up side down and put on the drainer at the side of the sink ~I've never seen a drainer in the Middle East~


Insults
1
A real slight by an Arab to another Arab would be to say their drinking glasses "smell of fish". It subtly indicates all sorts of things;  money is hard to come by,  the dishes aren't washed properly or are unclean (a real insult) and the servants aren't being organised.

The background to this insult comes from the insinuation that until about 20 years ago, fish was very cheap in the Gulf and therefore considered to be a poor man's food.  Because of this, and because cooked fish has such a pungent smell, many households now disinfect their entire stock of glassware once a week to ensure the fish smell doesn’t build up.

One lady I know is regularly insulted by her mother-in-law because every time she visits, the mother in law tells her she can smell fish in her water glasses.


2
Fish smells are still used to describe the, 'great unwashed'.

For example should someone be telling you a story about having to go to a public building e.g. a ministry or hospital, they could very well describe and act out how strong the fish smell was, using great big hand movements and holding their noses for too long (!) too dramatically (!) whilst making blowing noises with persed lips (!) as a natural and integrated part of the story ~such lively, dramatic fun to watch~

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'