digiigah

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

Living as a foreigner bi l-kuwayt brings its fair share of challenges, bas none more so than the subject of time, or al-waqt. 

From time to time, people may ask as-saa3ah cham? but knowing the time does not mean that someone won't be late for say, a family lunch, a chaay a'9-'9a7aa meet-up between mums dropping their kids off at school, or even a wedding.

In England, being fashionably late means arriving five to fifteen digiigah after the appointed time. Upon arrival in Kuwait, it was surprising for me to learn that here, someone could possibly show up saa3tayn after the agreed-upon meeting time.

I remember once being invited to ghadaa at 2pm, and on the stroke of 2, being driven to the 9aaluun to prepare my hair for the said lunch. "digiigah!" I had exclaimed. "Shouldn't we just forego the beauty treatments and get to the lunch on time?!" My surprise was met with indifference: this is how we do things here in Kuwait, nobody is ever on time, get used to it. 

At the end of the day, yimkin it's nicer to be relaxed about time - neither too strict nor too lax.

So when Theyab wants to leave the house to be - not just on time for an appointment bas five to fifteen minutes early, it's always a good moment to say:

"taw an-naas inruu7!" or "it's still too early to go!"

بالكويت	bi-l kuwayt	In Kuwait
بس	bas	But
الساعه  چم؟	as-saa3ah cham?	What time is it?
شاي الضحى	chaay al-'9a7aa	Elevenses
دقيقة	digiigah	Minute / Hold on a minute! (digiigtain 2 mins digaayig 3-10 mins, digiigah 11 mins and above)
ساعتين	saa3tain	Two hours
غدا	ghadaa	Lunch
صالون	9aaluun	Beauty parlour
يمكن	yimkin	maybe