9ubbur

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

The one with Subbur...

I'm not sure that Subbur is any kind of virtue. To avoid insanity, Subbur is a code of survival. Particularly when dealing with ministries, funding applications, post office lines and little sisters...

I don't think my Subbur has ever been tested more than by my younger sister when she listened to Slipknot's Wait and Bleed on loop throughout two the years' of my A Levels. Each time I would knock on her door and ask her to turn the music down. And each time she'd make a face and tell me "kayf-ii" or - "I'll do what I like."

Those times are over. My sister has since switched to the easy listening radio station for her dose of music. And when I ask her a question as an almost thirty-year old, her response is less often "kayf-ii" than "kayf-ich."

كيفك	kayf-ik	It’s up to you (>m)
كيفچ	kayf-ich	It’s up to you (>f)
كيفكم	kayf-kum	It’s up to you (>pl)
يبا	yubaa	Dad
صبر شوية	Subbur shwayyah	Wait a sec
في افنيوز	fii afinyuuz	In The Avenues Mall

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sar7aan

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

The one with sarHaan...

Often in my language classes, without meaning to, asraH. Once upon a time, I'd have sold a kidney to speak many languages. Nowadays I'm overcome with yearning whenever I hear of whiff of English spoken around me, or catch an episode of Blackadder on satellite TV.

But there is another angle to this lost-in-translation business. Premature deafness. Too many years of loud music and likely cotton bud abuse. And it really throws a spanner in the works when it comes to having a two-way conversation.

So the days consist of us heckling back and forth to one other like old people. I will say "sima:t-nii?" and he will say "sim:ay shinu gaa:d aguul?" and we'll pretend we understood.

It's a little embarrassing, this premature deafness. And so much easier to say ana sarHaan (if you're a man) or ana sarHaanah (if you're a girl) when you cannot hear the great secret your not-so-deaf friend has just revealed to you.

اسرح	asraH	I zone out
سمعتني؟	sima:t-nii?	Did you hear me? (>m)
سمعي شنو قاعد اقول!	isma: shinu gaa:d aguul	Listen to what I’m saying! (>f)
شنو	shinuu	What
سرحت	saraHt	I zoned out

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maangaa

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

Punam Kaln

The one with maangaa...

From March to May, India is filled with maangaa. Over half of those picked are shipped :alaa Tuul to the Arabian Gulf, particularly the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. There are literally hundreds of maangaa in the world, but if you were curious to know which naw:  is the tastiest, please read on.

It begins with this man here, Portuguese statesman, military leader and maangaa addict: Alfonso de Albuquerque.

Alfonso was the first European to enter the Gulf in 15th century, and his campaigns secured his control of the bahaar routes and established the Portuguese Empire in the Middle East (in Kuwait, Portuguese rule lasted approximately 100 years).

Aside from his ability to pillage and conquer, Alfonso became well-known for bringing maangaa to his friends following trips to Goa and, as fate would have it, a particular naw: was named after him. 

So the next time you dig in to your Alphonso fawaakah, remember the real Alfonso that inspired its name, and how Kuwait's cultural history is more diverse than anyone might guess.

على طول	:alaa Tuul	Directly
نوع	naw:	Type
فواكة	fawaakah	Fruit
بهار	bahaar	Spice
شنو	shinuu	What is
هذا	hadhaa	That
همبة	humbah	Mango (slang)

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majaal

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

The one with majaal...

This evening, there's zaHmah in Kuwait. Nothing unusual about this, illaa these cars have the owner's name written across the bumper and strange codes stuck to the paintwork. These are no ordinary cars. No, they are cars on a muhamah.

Cruising shaari: al-Hub (or Kuwait's Second Ring Road), these drivers (both male and female) are hoping for al-majaal of a relationship. That code you see? The driver's Blackberry Pin. Hag shinuu? Well, if you like the look of the driver, you can hover behind his car and tap his BB Pin into your phone to begin a virtual romance. And who knows where that might lead?

A little idea of "where" it may indeed lead can be found below in our audio of a Kuwaiti guy trying to get lucky at a Haflah.

زحمة	zaHmah	Traffic
إلا	illaa	Except
مهمة	muhamah	A mission
شارع الحب	shaari: al-Hub	Love Street
حق شنو؟	Hag shinuu?	What for?

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ash-sh3aar

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

The one with ash-sh:aar

shi:aaraat often seem Sghaar and unimportant, but they can make or break an-najaaH of a company. Take for instance, the KDD sh:aar. The "Kuwait Danish Dairy” was a successful collaboration between Kuwait and Denmark, selling ice creams and juices across the Gulf. The KDD sh:aar was nothing short of iconic in Kuwait. And then, there was kaarithah.

In 2005, a series of highly provocative cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed were published in a Danish newspaper. The gesture was received with Sadmah, particularly in the Middle East and large-scale boycotts of Danish goods began.

KDD's managers considered changing their name (since their business ties with Denmark had ended 22 years previously), but everyone knew ash-sh:aar. It was too powerful to change. And if they did, they would likely lose their customers anyway. So KDD carried on as it was. And sales of KDD products dropped by 95%.

Today, KDD has bounced back. Trust has been re-established with its clientele, and the Mohammed Cartoons as they were known, are a thing of al-maaDii. Most people agree that their products are still the very best. Nothing tastes quite like that barrid sandawiich.

شعارات	shi:aaraat	Logos
صغير	Saghiir	Small
صغار	Sghaar	Small (pl)
النجاح	an-najaaH	The success
كارثة	kaarithah	A disaster
صدمة	Sadmah	Shock
الماضي	al-maaDii	The past
برد سندويچ	barrid sandawiich	An ice-cream sandwich

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fawg-ah

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

The one with fawg-ah

The quSah of Man on Wire (2008) is :ajiibah. Almost thirty years ago, a 24-year old French artist named Philippe Petit set out a high-wire walk between the former Twin Towers. With little more than a long, metal :aamuud to balance.

Most people would call him maynuun or "crazy" for pulling off such a feat. The NYPD cops were certainly mayaaniin with anger at the unauthorised performance, threatening to pluck Philippe Petit from the wire with a helicopter! He was later acquitted of all charges, having claimed the performance was a "free aerial show for yahaal."

His :aa'ilah must have been maynuunah to let him balancing from a piece of wire 1,350 feet from the ground. Maybe they just let him get on with it. There's a wonderful Kuwaiti idiom reserved especially for this type of special situation, "yan wa ga:d" which literally means "he became crazy and sat" but more accurately "he's off his rocker."

قصة	quSah	Story
عجيبة	:ajiibah	Amazing (f)
عامود	:aamuud	Pole
يهال	yahaal	Children
عائلة	:aa'ilah	Family

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qa9d-ii

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

I say... qaSdii...

The one with ... qaSdii

Sigmund Freud would have a field day with this word.

qaSdii is a filler when you've forgotten what to say. It offers clarification when you're trying to explain the hardest thing in the world. qaSdii backs you up when you blurt something aloud that goes down faster than a lead balloon. In short, it's a word illii you should perhaps commit to memory. Far better inna you know this word than not.

I mention Freud because nine times out of ten, you use qaSdii when you say something but really you meant something else. Like "I love you Claire!" when your wife's name is actually Bayinah. Then you might need to back up, very quickly, and say, "sorry, qaSdii aguul Bayinah!"

It's a good word to use when you've done something a little inappropriate. Or when things go wrong and it was kind of your fault. Don't worry, we all make mistakes. But put things to right. Explain yourself: "maa kaan qaSdii chidhii!"

إلي	illii	that
إن	inna	that
قصدي اقول	qaSdii aguul	I meant to say
ما كان	maa kaan	negation, past tense
ما كان قصدي	maa kaan qaSdii	I didn't mean
اسوي	asawii	To do
چذي	chidhii	This (lit. "in this way")

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