stupid terminology question

[doodlebug 3]

The other night I was talking to the hubster and he said something about arabians. I commented, well you're an arabian aren't you? to which he replied, no. I said well you're arab right? to which he replied, yes.

So wassup with that? not all arabs are arabian? I tried to get him to explain it to me but he just confused me even more so I gave up.

He said that the Saudi's are arabian as are the Kuwaitis, but not the Jordanians and a few others.

just curious and i'm bored.

[Jenn! 918]

I think he was referring to the Arabian peninsula which includes: Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait.

[ya falaha! 0]

Moh talks about Arabs as if he isn't one, too. Then he talks about himself having Arab traits. I've given up trying to figure that one out.

[Jenn! 918]

I always refer to people as Arab, the language as Arabic. Arabian makes me think of Aladdin. Not quite sure why these terms seem to be interchangeable.

Edited January 31, 2007 by jenn3539

[doodlebug 3]

I think he was referring to the Arabian peninsula which includes: Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait.

I think I need that youtube thing again with the cute cartoon saying the countries. Or we need another quiz on where everything is in the middle east. I'll try to dig up that thread sometime.

[chris4336 3]

Here is the old thread with map game...I put it in my favorites hoping I might learn something

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=39785

Edited January 31, 2007 by chris4336

[amal 4]

i asked noor about this and he said to ask your husband if he meant 3orban instead of arabian. (3orban means the ppl who live in the desert). Is that what he meant?

[doodlebug 3]

i asked noor about this and he said to ask your husband if he meant 3orban instead of arabian. (3orban means the ppl who live in the desert). Is that what he meant?

I don't think so. To put it into context, we were talking about one of his sisters and how she's not ready to get married yet...I asked, "well if I fixed her up with a Saudi prince would she marry him?", and he said, "no she doesn't want to marry an arabian."..............unless Saudi princes live in the desert? I truly don't know.

[Together4ever 1]

Doodle, I believe he is referring to people of the Gulf region. You'll find a lot of "prejudice" amongst the people of the Middle East regarding people from different countries of the region (i.e. there isn't much of what some call Arab unity). My husband doesn't consider himself Arab (actually gets offended if called so) because his family lineage doesn't contain blood lines of people from the Gulf region.

[ya falaha! 0]

Agreed

Many Egyptians have mixed blood because of the various countries that have ruled Egypt through the years. Moh has Turkish and Greek (along with Saudi) blood in him. It's a rarity that an Egyptian has full Egyptian blood. Many Egyptians consider it an insult to refer to them as Arabs. If you listen to Moh you'd think "Arab" is a dirty word.

Doodle, I believe he is referring to people of the Gulf region. You'll find a lot of "prejudice" amongst the people of the Middle East regarding people from different countries of the region (i.e. there isn't much of what some call Arab unity). My husband doesn't consider himself Arab (actually gets offended if called so) because his family lineage doesn't contain blood lines of people from the Gulf region.

Edited February 1, 2007 by moody

[Jenn! 918]

Doodle, I believe he is referring to people of the Gulf region. You'll find a lot of "prejudice" amongst the people of the Middle East regarding people from different countries of the region (i.e. there isn't much of what some call Arab unity). My husband doesn't consider himself Arab (actually gets offended if called so) because his family lineage doesn't contain blood lines of people from the Gulf region.

That's interesting. Doesn't seem to be the case in Morocco AFAIK.

[doodlebug 3]

Agreed

Many Egyptians have mixed blood because of the various countries that have ruled Egypt through the years. Moh has Turkish and Greek (along with Saudi) blood in him. It's a rarity that an Egyptian has full Egyptian blood. Many Egyptians consider it an insult to refer to them as Arabs. If you listen to Moh you'd think "Arab" is a dirty word.

Doodle, I believe he is referring to people of the Gulf region. You'll find a lot of "prejudice" amongst the people of the Middle East regarding people from different countries of the region (i.e. there isn't much of what some call Arab unity). My husband doesn't consider himself Arab (actually gets offended if called so) because his family lineage doesn't contain blood lines of people from the Gulf region.

That explains it then. I don't know what his exact lineage is but I do know that dating back to his great great grandparents on both sides they all came from Egypt. The section of Cairo that he lives in even has a street with their name on it where they live. I wonder why the prejudice. It shocked me at first because as someone who only knew what she saw on Fox News and CNN, I just thought everyone from that area got along for the most part and was united.

[Mrs. Forgetful 2]

My husband says he's not an Arab, he's an African. I don't know if he's saying that jokingly or not, but I just consider him plain Moroccan with european heritage.

[amal 4]

i asked noor about this and he said to ask your husband if he meant 3orban instead of arabian. (3orban means the ppl who live in the desert). Is that what he meant?

I don't think so. To put it into context, we were talking about one of his sisters and how she's not ready to get married yet...I asked, "well if I fixed her up with a Saudi prince would she marry him?", and he said, "no she doesn't want to marry an arabian."..............unless Saudi princes live in the desert? I truly don't know.

ok.... I told noor this and he said "aha..that means he is referring to the ppl of the gulf because the gulf ppl treat their women in a bad way" He said it was a bad choice of words but it can be used in that context. Hope that helps.

amal

[doodlebug 3]

My husband says he's not an Arab, he's an African. I don't know if he's saying that jokingly or not, but I just consider him plain Moroccan with european heritage.

That makes sense to me now because when I was spouting off all these things to Usama, one of the people that he seems to hold in high regard are Moroccons. Actually his eyes lit up when I mentioned Morocco and he said these people are very very good and generous people.

As a side note, talking still about his sister, I said, 'well what if I set her up with a prince from Jordan?', and he said, "honey *I'd* marry a prince from Jordan!!!!" ...he was kidding of course but said it to stress that he really really really liked people from Jordan.