- Have you ever needed to express yourself, but couldn’t find the right word ?
- Did you then try to find it, but fail miserably?
- What then ?
- Did you give up ?
- What if you could invent new words ?
- Why am I whatifing ? (what + if + ing)
- Aren’t we already creating words ? (Blog + Sphere = bloggosphere)
- Is it ok to mix languages ? (Arabic + Englizi = Arabizi)
- Can you predict the results ? (Moo-Tee = Mother in German = female form of “Die!” in Arabic)
- Dude, where’s my language ? (Dude = worms in Arabic)
- Who makes the rules ? (English + Wiki = Engliki)
- Would this work for sentences too ? (you need my authorization abu el-shabab)
- Final thoughts on reincarnation ? (To be or not to be a bee)
- How about Acronyms ? (M.A.D.B. = Mothers Against Drunk Blogging)
- (Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz) Iz zere a world record for how many Zs you can pronounze ?
Note: Zee (Zed for those who studied English in English) is fun, but there can be only one N.
And now for the serious part of the post……….Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo! (Damn it I’m trying to be serious, shhhhhhhhhhh). Oh heck I forgot what I was going to say! Ok, I’ll let you help, on my mark say me me me.
- Man-Purse: A small bag designed to be carried by a man. This became a necessity as men realised what women have known all along. Those little pockets in your pants are useless. Mobile, Pager, Mp3 player, Digital Camera, Wallet, Deodorant, travelling papers, gum. where do you carry all that stuff ? Brief cases are too business-oriented, and old-fashioned. Laptop carriers simply use the extra pockets in their laptop case.
- Bagist (one g): A movement started by John Lennon and Yoko Ono suggesting everyone wear a large plastic bag that covers them head to toe so that people will listen to their ideas, and not discriminate based on appearance, skin, sex, color, or race. I love John Lennon, but I think he had it all wrong. People would just say: Look, it’s the bag people ! Then again things were different in the 60s.
- Purse Man: A man wielding a man-purse. Purse men are unfortunately still stigmatised and ridiculed particularly by Baggistic establishments.
- Baggist (two g’s): A person or entity discriminating or denying entry to purse men while allowing women carrying purses 4 times as large in without a thought. Baggism is practiced worldwide. In Amman, baggistic establishments include Carrefour, Safeway but not Cozmo (Yay). One incident that comes to mind happened in the Montreal Casino. They searched my man purse at the enterance, and then decided not to let me take it inside anyway.
- Anti-Baggist: me me me!
- Fanny Pack: A zippered fabric pouch strapped around the waist. A modern mutation of the military pouches soldiers wear. Less fashionable than man-purses as they are associated with senior citizens, bikers, and clueless tourists. Yet they somehow remained immune from the baggists which is why I started wearing one. Well, that and the fact that I lost at least 2 mobile phones just by placing them in my pant pockets. Not to be confused with a doggie-pack!
- M.D.Y.M.: Malls denying entry to unaccompanied young males on weekends and holidays. Namely Mecca Mall. I managed to add this definition into Mecca Mall’s entry on Wikipedia, and it has survived mostly in tact for years now, although someone labeled it criticism. It’s actually a fact acknowledged unabashedly by the mall’s PR. Worse yet on weekends you will find young men huddled outside accosting women entering to ask them to escort them inside as a favor. I haven’t seen MDYMs anywhere else in the world.
- Anti-MDYM: me me me!
Thanks for All the Fish:
I’d like to thank Lina Ejeilat, Douglas Adams, and William Shakespeare (in that order) for the unauthorised use (and abuse) of their beautiful sentences. I am also grateful to Dave (whose head-er belongs on mount Rushmore) for teaching me that you don’t have to decide on a single title. Kudos to KJ/Moogle for inspiring my serious alter-ego (and my spellchecker) to put up with all of this. Finally Deema for making me define random words starting a philosophical chain reaction.




24 Users Commented In This Post
Posted from
12-8-2007 at 20:05:23
Columbo + Douglas Adams = FTW!
Posted from
12-8-2007 at 20:12:46
LOL… I still don’t know what to say.. or write… mind blowing post ya man…
It was kind of scary though… more like going on a field trip inside the mind of John Nash (remember the movie A Beautiful Mind )…
Posted from
12-8-2007 at 21:43:24
Bakkouz, Columbo was incredible, who else can pull off a one man cop show like that. When they asked Columbo about getting a gift for his wife. He said: “I can’t get her anymore earrings, she only has 2 ears !”. I haven’t seen the Hitchiker movie yet, but I have the whole hitchiker series as audiobooks acted out by the BBC. It’s hilarious.
Mkilany, John Nash won a nobel prize, and was played by Russell Crowe, so I’m gonna take that as a compliment! Just watch out the Baggists are coming to get you :D
Posted from
12-8-2007 at 23:16:15
LOL! This is so funny, what a good post
Mkilany.. WAINAK YA ZALAMEH?
Hani+Obaid = Ho-baid! :)
You’re the official HO-HO-HO-Baid of this Christmas :)
Posted from
12-8-2007 at 23:44:25
My pleasure Qwaider, I was just in that kinda mood today !
Posted from
12-9-2007 at 02:34:33
weird ass nice post
Posted from
12-9-2007 at 09:44:54
What the hell 3ala hal subo7?!?!
You didn’t write this drunk, did you? Coz if you did, you are one fun drunk.
Posted from
12-9-2007 at 11:43:29
Just glad I could help. :D
Posted from
12-9-2007 at 19:51:05
Moey, glad you liked it.
Hal, Subo7 Massa it’s all the same, this is a 24 hour shop! Not drunk, just sleep-deprived! Hmmm you have to teach me those alternating question mark exclamation mark techniques, although I’ll still prefer triple exclamation marks, its the punctuational (is that a word) equivalent of raising an eyebrow !!!
Dave, it is always appreciated.
Posted from
12-10-2007 at 15:42:15
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
Someone took too many e-pills! :D hahahaha
Let’s bag those baggists!
PS Thanks for the shoutout!
Posted from
12-10-2007 at 23:23:11
KJ, See I let the inner child out for one day, mkilany thinks I’m nuts, Hal thinks I’m drunk, and you think I’m on drugs.
That’s it, all future blog posts will be dead serious in formal Queen’s English, and no more exclamation marks.
Noooooooooooooooooo!!!
Oh well, I tried :)
Posted from
12-11-2007 at 02:20:41
I watched the movie and it was alright, I haven’t read the books but from what i read the movie doesn’t do justice to the books at all.
Posted from
12-11-2007 at 11:09:52
No man bel 3aks I am sure everyone thoroughly enjoyed it! Post more of your alter ego :D
Assign him/her/it an animal and name him/her/it :D
Posted from
12-11-2007 at 12:25:22
hilarious post. I managed to follow the pattern of your mind and I didn’t get lost.
loool at how you managed to wiki on mecca mall. this is just hilarious.
and just for your information, M.D.Y.M is a concept that started here in KSA because its the only rule we have here and it applies to all the malls. :)
Posted from
12-11-2007 at 13:07:20
Good KJ, no worries, just kidding around :)
Hamza, I had fun writing it as well. Thanks for clarifying about MDYMs. When I said I hadn’t seen them anywhere else, I was hoping someone would have input on that.
Posted from
12-12-2007 at 06:42:44
This post was very enjoyable especially that the whole man-purse discussion was the “serious” part of your post.
BTW, Lennon actually died on Dec. 8 1970, was this just an odd coincidence or is that why you mentioned him in your post?
Posted from
12-12-2007 at 18:52:50
cool post really :) well said hehehe
when i was reading i thought of my JanMania :D lol
Posted from
12-12-2007 at 22:00:24
Dana, Man purses are serious stuff, if you wanna learn boxing, try joking with a kangaroo about its pouch :D
The post date matching the anniversary of his assisination is an odd yet sad coincidence. I actually googled Bagism (one g) before I decided to use it, and found that it was already taken, so I decided to add another g, and mention both on the post. See, you get the behind the scene extras free of charge !
Jano, thank you and welcome. JanMania is so red, but now I know what Nalchik is !
Posted from
12-14-2007 at 16:21:41
Nice Hani..
A friend of mine described another person using the word “moudaprass”.. He said it means depressed !!
Posted from
12-16-2007 at 08:15:58
you r most welcome hani :D
and lool @ the vote, if i were a guy id deffenitely be marlboro man! i cant stand bags anyway, and no, not tomboyish, just practical :D
Posted from
12-17-2007 at 01:06:55
Thank you Noura. We have a whole range of strange Arabicised English words we use at work. The oddest one:
Natifny: Notify me!
Nataftak: I notified You!
Tanteef: Notification!
VA, I think big bags are supposed to be fashionable again for women, but they’re kinda bulky, and not exactly great for your back. Then again neither are high heels, but you won’t see men complaining about women wearing them!
Posted from
12-18-2007 at 21:14:38
wow i had no idea about the guys at malls on weekends thing…so if i was a guy and had to buy clothes or whatever on the weekend i’d have to take my mom or sister with me??? Inteereesttting
Posted from
12-19-2007 at 00:10:50
Sam, exactly. In some countries, they have professional shopping assistants. We could have professional mall escorts !
One time, my brother from the US was visiting us in Amman, and we both went to Mecca mall. It took more than 30 minutes to find parking, but that’s another story.
First we had opened the door and walked in, suddenly we heard a guy shouting at us from behind. “And where do you think you’re going ?” He asked us to come back. He asked what we do for a living, why we are coming to the mall. My brother explained that he is an engineer visiting here from the US (I was quiet since I was totally ashamed of Mecca Mall and of it being part of my country). The guard then asked my brother for his business card. My brother told him he ’s here on vacation so he’s not carrying his business cards with him. the guard then wanted to know why we came to the mall. At this point my brother started getting upset (rightfuly so as this was very uncivilised). He explained that he is here to buy a mobile phone and to pickup my sister’s phone which was being repaired at a store inside. The moron guard asked us to call the mobile store shop owner, and have him come to the mall gate, or he want let us in (Ihki ma3ah talafon, wu Gulu Yiji lal bab 3ashan a3abirkom). At this point my brother was about to lose it. It seems they expect all Jordanian young men to be pigs guilty with no chance of being proven innocent unless escorted by a woman.
Just for comparison, nearly every time I go to city mall, the guard takes one look at me and tells me to go ahead inside. Yesterday I went to the Royale hotel, and when I went in the security guard greeted me with a smile and a “good evening sir”. It’s a big contrast to the Mecca Mall mercenaries, but hey I guess once they started getting enough business, they stopped caring about their customers.
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