Married to my dad and having Lebanese in-laws, my mom picked up a phrase or two of Arabic.
Though both Sitti and Jidu spoke Arabic, my dad doesn't beyond a word or two, most notably, "tizu" ("butt" in English), a word used in our family to this day, though not as a term of endearment as my dad has adopted it.
It is interesting to me -- though raised by two Arabic-speaking parents -- my dad didn't learn any Arabic. If he did, he's never let on. He seemed to make a clean break. I won't hypothesize as to why that might be. My dad's middle name is B. Just the initial B. There's not even a period. There's an old family rumor that he had a very Arabic-sounding middle name ("Bushada" is what comes to mind), but that he changed it to just B. Though this rumor is unsubstantiated, and I am hesitant to bring it up with him to account for its veracity.
Besides "tizu", my mom would always say, "Fud-luh!" Usually accompanied by a dismissover wave of her hand. She admitted she used the word incorrectly. She told us it meant welcome in Arabic, but to her it was just "Fud-luh" like "so what", "kiss off", or "who cares".
As in, my mom: "You don't want to go to the volleyball game tonight?"
"No, I think I'll just stay here."
"Okay, then fud-luh!"
Not a very good example, but hopefully, you get the picture.
Elise and I have both started Arabic classes since we moved to Jordan. I take mine at work, while Elise's classes are taught at the language center office conveniently located behind the grocery store across the street from our house. Elise thinks it's better we're not in the same class. She has also conscripted the kids into her language learning, exposing them to lessons online via an app on her phone called Mango.
We're both really enjoying learning Arabic and though it has only been three weeks, I'm surprised how much I am able to say. I know it's not much, but considering how I've heard Arabic is such a difficult language to learn, I'm happy to be able to say anything at all.
I recently learned how to say 'please' when asking for something, but my teacher was quick to clarify there were two kinds of 'pleases'. The other 'please' was used when you are welcoming someone, offering someone something, or, say, if you were to open the door for some and want to say, "Please, after you." This 'please' is pronounced "tfu-dall" when addressing a man, or "tfu-dall-lee" when addressing a woman.
This was my mom's "fud-luh"!
It's really hard to remember to say "fu-dall" instead of "fud-luh" and want to flip someone off.
For my next trick, I need to figure out the origin of the phrase, "Duck-a-licka". Whenever I went to my Auntie Rumsuh's house (Jidu's sister, my dad's aunt), she would pinch our cheek's as hard as she could and say to us, "Duck-a-licka, duck-a-licka, duck-a-licka!"
I'm a little afraid to ask.
Though both Sitti and Jidu spoke Arabic, my dad doesn't beyond a word or two, most notably, "tizu" ("butt" in English), a word used in our family to this day, though not as a term of endearment as my dad has adopted it.
It is interesting to me -- though raised by two Arabic-speaking parents -- my dad didn't learn any Arabic. If he did, he's never let on. He seemed to make a clean break. I won't hypothesize as to why that might be. My dad's middle name is B. Just the initial B. There's not even a period. There's an old family rumor that he had a very Arabic-sounding middle name ("Bushada" is what comes to mind), but that he changed it to just B. Though this rumor is unsubstantiated, and I am hesitant to bring it up with him to account for its veracity.
Besides "tizu", my mom would always say, "Fud-luh!" Usually accompanied by a dismissover wave of her hand. She admitted she used the word incorrectly. She told us it meant welcome in Arabic, but to her it was just "Fud-luh" like "so what", "kiss off", or "who cares".
As in, my mom: "You don't want to go to the volleyball game tonight?"
"No, I think I'll just stay here."
"Okay, then fud-luh!"
Not a very good example, but hopefully, you get the picture.
Elise and I have both started Arabic classes since we moved to Jordan. I take mine at work, while Elise's classes are taught at the language center office conveniently located behind the grocery store across the street from our house. Elise thinks it's better we're not in the same class. She has also conscripted the kids into her language learning, exposing them to lessons online via an app on her phone called Mango.
We're both really enjoying learning Arabic and though it has only been three weeks, I'm surprised how much I am able to say. I know it's not much, but considering how I've heard Arabic is such a difficult language to learn, I'm happy to be able to say anything at all.
I recently learned how to say 'please' when asking for something, but my teacher was quick to clarify there were two kinds of 'pleases'. The other 'please' was used when you are welcoming someone, offering someone something, or, say, if you were to open the door for some and want to say, "Please, after you." This 'please' is pronounced "tfu-dall" when addressing a man, or "tfu-dall-lee" when addressing a woman.
This was my mom's "fud-luh"!
It's really hard to remember to say "fu-dall" instead of "fud-luh" and want to flip someone off.
For my next trick, I need to figure out the origin of the phrase, "Duck-a-licka". Whenever I went to my Auntie Rumsuh's house (Jidu's sister, my dad's aunt), she would pinch our cheek's as hard as she could and say to us, "Duck-a-licka, duck-a-licka, duck-a-licka!"
I'm a little afraid to ask.
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