Zahma: traffic. In Cairo there is always zahma. This is the excuse given when someone arrives an hour and a half late for a meeting or when a taxi driver tries to charge you triple the actual cab fare or when he wants to take an incredibly circuitous route to run the meter.
Magnoona: crazy. This is useful when explaining to sixty year old men during work meetings that you will not marry them or when arguing with taxi drivers that they must not drop you off on the opposite side of a highway, forcing you to walk across 6-8 lanes of traffic to get to work. Unfortunately, “You are ‘magnoona’” is much softer than “ ____ you”, thus my dedication to more rigorous Arabic study.
Yanni: the Arabic equivalent of our slang use of “like”. Although it serves no actual purpose in a sentence I sound more like a local when I use it.
BIZZAPT: Exactly. Commonly used when someone is ranting about horrible “zahma” or using “yanni” over and over again and someone else uses a real word to finish their sentence.
Khallas!: Finished! Over! Done! This is used when you are over an argument, when you wish to end a discussion, when you want nothing more to do with it- a very fun one to yell when angry. My fave to use when I decide the argument is over. In my favor, of course.
Begad: Seriously?! Really? Used incredulously when taxi drivers think it's totally normal to take me in a circle thinking I don't know my way around. or when people tell me I look Egyptian because I am brown. They are magnoona.
YA RAB: OMG. Enough said.
There is also a lovely tongue clicking noise that signifies disapproval. Do not be surprised if you find me doing this all the time.
I'm in my final chapter here. Al Humdolillah (Thanks be to God) and it's surprisingly bittersweet. Just a few short months until I'm back in the Lone Star State!Headed to Turkey tonight: E, I will promise to blog about it when I get back!
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