Continuing in the spirit of Chris’ last post, here is another joke — which is in pretty bad taste, I might add — about engagement/marriage from the Internet. It’s not as full of useful vocabulary as the last one, but it is certainly amusing: انا جاي اطلب ايد بنتك يا حج بس يابنى دى لسا بالمدرسة خلاص اجى بالليل تكون جت I’ve come to ask for your daughter’s hand, Hagg. Son, she’s still in school! Alright, I’ll come back at night when she’s here. ...
العملية ناشفة “el 3ameleya nashfa“ File under: Shabab Speak, an enigmatic subset of Cairene dialect.
الجو عامل ايه؟ “el gaw 3amel eh?“(accompanied by a wink, nudge, & grin) I think it’s kind of great that ‘So, how’s the weather?’ is used in English as a kind of cultural signifier for not having anything better to talk about or feeling awkward, but in Egypt, it’s sometimes used to ask about someone’s significant other. Same phrase, COMPLETELY different meaning. My guess for the reason there’s a euphemism for this that may be the fact that dating before getting engaged or married is widely considered a no-no / something you usually (not always) have to hide from your parents here, but correct me if I’m wrong. I’ve also never actually heard this one firsthand because it’s mainly used among guys (there’s a whole other world of speech out there that I’ve only been able to see glimpses of. I call it: Shabab Arabic) but one generous shab named Fady was kind enough to share this one with me. I will be poking around for more of this type of phrase in the future. ...