Further Adventures in Linguistics

Darija does not have a hell of a lot of vocabulary.  I guess that's what makes it a dialect.  Once the complicated words start coming in, it's all classical arabic with local pronunciation and grammar.  While sometimes confusing, it's convenient to have most of your bases covered with only a few words.  For example, "zween" can mean nice, or handsome, or good, or anything like that.  "wa3ra" can mean really awesome, really difficult, dangerous, tremendous, or really anything with emphasis both positive and negative.  

Unfortunately, sometimes a word means two things that shouldn't really be related.  For example, qiyyam is a verb.  It means both to value, as in, I value the opinions and viewpoints of the female volunteers in my group.  And it also means to get erect, as in, well, yeah. 

Additionally, there is a single word for "to persuade" and to "satisfy (in a sexual manner)".  I suppose one could persuade another by satisfying them?  Not sure what's going on here but I'll continue to collect these great ones.  More useful in a classroom setting are phrases such as Htrm rask teHtrm, meaning give respect to get respect.  

Friendly neighborhood goathead salesman.  Unfortunately he seems to be fresh out of goat brains today.

fairly typical saturday evening