I've posted this while running the risk of stereotyping, but anyone who has worked in the Middle East will tell you how often it is true.
'Wallahi' can roughly be translated into I swear by God, it is overused as an oath and thus loses its intended value to emphasise truthfulness or sincerity. In this context, it can be taken to mean for God's sake.
'Ya' translates to O, it is used before a person's name, for e.g 'O Misha, open the door' , or 'O sister, open the door'.
'Habibi' translates to dear in the masculine form, it would habibti, if you were referring to a female; in this context it is used in a patronising manner. In which case, you usually want to reply don't habibi me, I'm not your habibi- much like how you would say don't call me baby- I'm not your baby ala Andy Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada.
This just reminded me of Madison Avenue's song of the same name, which I've linked to above. I know this isn't the most well-thought out post, but hey I'm just practicing putting stuff out there. Hopefully, it will get better with time. As always reactions and comments are welcome.
A special shout out to a very sweet reader and blogger who made my day today Izdiher, thank you so much, and I love you too!xxx
*Update*-This is one my most read post, people ususally arrive at this post searching for differences between Middle Eastern and Japanese attitudes to work. Why would you want to search for that? Is it part of some Human Resource Management/ Organisation Behaviour assignment given to students all over the world? I'm intrigued, please lift the veil from this mystery by commenting on why you were searching for the above/or how you arrived at this post- it'll be immensely satisfying to my insatiable curiosity. Thanks in advance!
For more crazy posts like these, follow me on Facebook
i have got to say i laughed my heart out on this post. :))
ReplyDeleteHi Misha,
ReplyDeleteFirst of
all, totally love your wit and humour! I ended up on this post by just clicking through the archives, and no, I was not researching for any Human Resource project!This is
Shalaka from
Lemuda.com- a new online luxury fashion store in the Middle
East, coming soon
from mid-December 2011. Lemuda will feature high-end fashion
accessories and
will give its customers an opportunity to build their own unique
style by
mixing and matching highly discounted designer products with
easy-to-wear
brands. Our guiding mantra is “fashion fades, style remains “,
in the words of
Miss Coco Chanel.
I would
request you to kindly
feature this exciting new shopping venture on your blog. For
further reference
on what this is all about, I could email you a company profile file. Kindly let me know your email as I could not find one on the blog.We would be glad to follow you on Twitter
once we have our
Twitter account up and running. In the meanwhile, we have an
active Facebook
fan page, which you could take a look at and ‘like’. Also, it
would be great if
Lemuda could be featured in blog updates sent out by you to your
readers.
To discover
more about us, please
visit http://www.facebook.com/lemudastyle. For any further inquiries, please
do not hesitate to get
in touch with me.
Thanks
& Regards,
Shalaka
Walambe
--
Shalaka Walambe
Marketing & Communication
LEMUDA.COM
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
World Wide Fashion JLT | Unit No. 506, HDS Tower, Plot No. PH1-F2 |
Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai -UAE
License Number: JLT-66422
Registration No.: JLT2661
T. +971 (0)4
4357244
F. +971 (0)4
4357244
e-mail shalaka@lemuda.com
Please consider the environment before printing
this email