Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Arabic tourettes

Me and Caroline are now suffering from what I have decided to call Arabic tourettes! It is the uncontrolled, unwanted use of Arabic words and phrases. Whereas we might finish a sentence with " so that's that. End of.", we are saying "khallas"; or instead of "no problem", "mafi mushkillah". Whilst I consciously say other phrases before I say them, like "as-salam alaykum" (peace be with you/formal greeting) or "min fadhlik" (please), "shukran" (thank you) , "kef Halak?" (how are you?) etc. the other two keep blurting out even to non Arabic speakers and to each other at home - it's weird!

I'll try not to do it when we are home in the UK from Friday for a week!

1 comment:

  1. Yep, know that feeling well.

    But you missed the most important "inshallah!" still say that also "hallas", ie finished, bookrah ie tomorrow, mahlish ie it doesn't matter
    The big one is Arabic IBM project management.
    I (inshallah) B (bookrah) M (mahlish)

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