[Ads-l] Language ID question

[Galen Buttitta]

Seems like it's a botched translation of "is for lovers" in Arabic. I recognize the root for "to like" (its shape indicates it's a noun, apparently with a nisba suffix), and the lām is a preposition roughly meaning "to, for".

> On Sep 11, 2016, at 02:42, Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Can anyone identify the language and meaning of this word written in Arabic
> script, or if it's real at all?
> 
> A couple of days ago I saw someone wearing a very impressive T-shirt; here's
> my photo of it
> <http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/thnidu/5405934/132685/132685_original.jpg>.
> I posted it on my blog <http://thnidu.dreamwidth.org/1539901.html>, with
> this alt-text description:
> 
> HAMTRAMCK is for lovers. Arabic on top, Polish on bottom, Mickey and Minnie
> Mouse holding hands in the middle, and eight assorted national flags along
> the sides
> 
> My blog <http://thnidu.dreamwidth.org/1539901.html> post, slightly edited:
> 
> As I'd sort of guessed from the shirt, and as the guy wearing it explained,
> Hamtramck, a section of Detroit, is a mixed, multi-ethnic neighborhood
> "with a kind of West Philly vibe". Тhe Polish on the bottom means "is for
> lovers"; but according to a Palestinian I know, the Arabic characters on
> the top don't mean anything in Arabic or any of the other languages that
> he's familiar with that use that script, and they don't spell out anything
> like "hamtramk".
> 
> Any help would be appreciated, just to satisfy my curiosity.
> 
> Mark Mandel
> . <http://X-Clacks-Overhead.dw/GNU-Terry_Pratchett>  .
> <http://www.gnuterrypratchett.com/>
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org