Expressions...

[monnik 0]

Mine picked up a new one... "what's shakin' bakin' " I soooooo hate it and asked him to stop saying it.

He came home one day and said .. what does supman mean .. I said.."supman"???? he said "yeah when i say hi to somebody they say hi, sup man"

I had to explain "load of #######", "Piece of s###" , "she/he's hot" , "cool" , "wicked" , "nifty" , "awesome" (pronounced as owwwwsum by hubby).... too many to list. I just love that.

We went through that, too. Only it was, "what's kickin chicken?" It was just as annoying.

[doodlebug 3]

I love how my husband says "okie dokie panokie" now. lol it's so cute with that thick arabic accent.

[monnik 0]

i think abdou has watched too many music videos because i had to explain to him that the "N word" wasn't something people normally say other than black people to each other!!!

We listen to different songs and some have that word in them. Now, DH's little brother says it all the time!

[amal 4]

i think abdou has watched too many music videos because i had to explain to him that the "N word" wasn't something people normally say other than black people to each other!!!

We listen to different songs and some have that word in them. Now, DH's little brother says it all the time!

Oh my goodness..the "N" word...that one has been a total hoot!! ("hoot" was also one I had to explain)

When we first went out and saw someone of that fashion, my husband said out loud "is that a N" I thought I was gonna die! I said never ever ever say that word ever ever ever!!! lol ... Now he'll say it , laugh , and back away really quick coz I always smack him on the arm/shoulder when he says it. (not smack hard, I promise! )

[monnik 0]

"Supman" just made me giggle.

Over the past couple of years, we've hit on a few funny ones.

In the early days, he used to blush whenever people would bid farewell by saying "have a good one." He thought that 'having a good one' sounded somewhat sexual.

Then came our showdown over Wal-Mart. I typically avoid the place, but he found it amazing. So when he asked what was wrong with Wal-Mart, I explained by offhandedly saying that some of their business practices seemed "shitty" and "shady" to me. Thus Wal-Mart became (and remains) "the Shitty Place."

Third, he seemed to think that "umm" is as weird as "yanni" sounds to me.

And, most recently (as his English continues to improve), I'm constantly amused by his use of the word "until." In my mind, "until" is always somehow linked to a negation (as in "I *didn't* go to bed until 3am" or "please *don't* water the plants until Saturday). Meanwhile, for him, until is infinitely more useful...

I came to work until 9am (him) = I *didn't* come to work until 9am (me)

Do we have any linguistics or ESL people here? Anyone who could enlighten me on how to better explain the strange intricacies of until...?

Miss this forum. If I could be online more, I'd post more. Best wishes to everyone,

E

I don't know if this will help you, but....

I always think of the word until to be a conditional word. One action starts/stops when another action begins/ends. Examples: Rub my head until I go to sleep. --- once I sleep, you can stop rubbing my head. Don't leave work until you finish cleaning. ---- When the cleaning is finished, you can leave.

In arabic until has two meanings. It can mean until or "even" as in, even a little child would know the answer to that. So, it can still be confusing on a whole 'nother level.

But in arabic, until = le7ad or 7ata. لحد حتي

I hope either of those can help you guys.

[Clarky and Tarah 0]

This thread is the cutest thing I've ever read . My fiance already knows most of my sayings it's no fun.

[deadbird 2]

Oh, I missed out mostly on when Ramy was here the first time and had to learn all these things...sometimes I still catch him though.

hmm...I've had to explain the word "hectic."

one time I was typing an email to my mom and strung together kindasortanotreally, but I was reading aloud as I was typing and Ramy picked up on it right away and started saying it all the time. But we got sickening with it where he would say one word and I would say the other...yeah....nevermind.

I remember one of the first things he ever said to me, which still amuses me to this day...

Him: "Your name is Jen, right?"

Me: "No, it's Megan."

Him: "Oh, Megan. That's a pretty name. Like Volkswagon."

(A year later he later told me he said it because my t-shirt had pictures of Volkswagon bugs on it that said "Love Bug")

[doodlebug 3]

Oh, I missed out mostly on when Ramy was here the first time and had to learn all these things...sometimes I still catch him though.

hmm...I've had to explain the word "hectic."

one time I was typing an email to my mom and strung together kindasortanotreally, but I was reading aloud as I was typing and Ramy picked up on it right away and started saying it all the time. But we got sickening with it where he would say one word and I would say the other...yeah....nevermind.

I remember one of the first things he ever said to me, which still amuses me to this day...

Him: "Your name is Jen, right?"

Me: "No, it's Megan."

Him: "Oh, Megan. That's a pretty name. Like Volkswagon."

(A year later he later told me he said it because my t-shirt had pictures of Volkswagon bugs on it that said "Love Bug")

My youngest daughter's name is Megan.

[ya falaha! 0]

I had to warn my husband about the same thing. I'm fairly sure he learned this word from movies. He knew it was a "bad" word without me telling him but he didn't realize just how bad it is. There are words in Arabic (as I'm sure most of you know) that have a similar meaning.

i think abdou has watched too many music videos because i had to explain to him that the "N word" wasn't something people normally say other than black people to each other!!!

hahaa.. I had to stop my husband from saying that the other day.. He didnt know it was a bad word. And of course we are driving around Dudley(bostons peoples) when he starts saying it - of course with the windows down

[deadbird 2]

My youngest daughter's name is Megan.

Megans rock

(good luck!!!! I know I keep telling you this but I can't help it )

[Becky&Sam 0]

My youngest daughter's name is Megan.

Megans rock

(good luck!!!! I know I keep telling you this but I can't help it )

My daughter's name is Megan too!! When I was in Egypt Sam showed me a car sold there by Renault called Megan. A very nice sports car. My daughter thought that was cool there was a car with her name.

[Marry American 0]

i think abdou has watched too many music videos because i had to explain to him that the "N word" wasn't something people normally say other than black people to each other!!!

WOW! Most of my friends are African American and we do not call each other the 'N word'-FYI

[doodlebug 3]

rofl I was telling my husband about the "n" word and thankfully he knows enough that it's a bad word and would never use it anyways, BUT, when I said, "you know that's a bad word, right?" he said, "yes of course donnot worry I have been working on my phrases....................."

then he says something like Go NINJAS!!!!

I"m like, what the heck was THAT??? And he said it was from the ninja turtles.

I have NO idea what he's talking about. lol

[deadbird 2]

My youngest daughter's name is Megan.

Megans rock

(good luck!!!! I know I keep telling you this but I can't help it )

My daughter's name is Megan too!! When I was in Egypt Sam showed me a car sold there by Renault called Megan. A very nice sports car. My daughter thought that was cool there was a car with her name.

Yay! yet another Megan in the world I have a semi-distant cousin with the same name as me (well, different middle name, but same initials...)

Oh...no wonder Ramy compared my name to a car!!! I want to see this now....next time I'm in Egypt...lol

In other news...

I've had some fun explaining internet/chat lingo to Ramy...especially because some of my friends have a habit of saying LOL out loud. They did it so much that my mom and I started saying it out loud too...and Ramy as well...(he's really not a computer person and never has been....)

[caybee 21]

Mine picked up a new one... "what's shakin' bakin' " I soooooo hate it and asked him to stop saying it.

He came home one day and said .. what does supman mean .. I said.."supman"???? he said "yeah when i say hi to somebody they say hi, sup man"

I had to explain "load of #######", "Piece of s###" , "she/he's hot" , "cool" , "wicked" , "nifty" , "awesome" (pronounced as owwwwsum by hubby).... too many to list. I just love that.

We went through that, too. Only it was, "what's kickin chicken?" It was just as annoying.

I said, "Know what I mean, jellybean?" to Jamal one time. It stuck. Now, if I'm trying to explain something serious and I say, "You know what I mean?" I get a nod, a grin, and a "Jellybean!"

My sister taught him, "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream," so now he will say he wants some I scream you scream.

I remember telling myself the other day that we needed to go over the difference between union and onion, but I don't remember the context.

As his English vocabulary grows, though, I see more and more of that poetic talk that's so prized in Arabic coming out in his English. Nice.

Hmmm...we just heard something scratching around in or under the house, maybe on the ductwork. I woke him up from a sound sleep. My "You know what I mean?" was not met with a "Jellybean" this time.