[Ads-l] Fw: Language ID question

[Margaret E. Winters]

I checked with one of the Arabic faculty members at Wayne State - see below ----


And very brief expansion on your notes - Hamtramck is not part of Detroit but an independent city known for its old Polish population and later Middle-eastern and other immigrant groups which is surrounded on all sides by the city of Detroit.


best,

Margaret


----------------------------
MARGARET E WINTERS
On Leave
Office of the Provost
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI  48202

mewinters at wayne.edu



________________________________
From: Mohamed Tarek El-Sharkawi
Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2016 10:43 PM
To: Margaret E. Winters
Subject: Re: Language ID question

Hi,
It is an Arabic prepositional phrase. It means: "to the fans of" and then the word Hamtramck is written in Latin letters.
________________________________
From: Margaret E. Winters
Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2016 8:43:36 AM
To: Mohamed Tarek El-Sharkawi
Subject: Fwd: Language ID question

Can you help?

Hope all is well -- and thanks!

Margaret

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM<mailto:thnidu at gmail.com>>
Date: September 11, 2016 at 2:42:05 AM EDT
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at listserv.uga.edu>>
Subject: Language ID question
Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at listserv.uga.edu>>

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". ?he 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://x-clacks-overhead.dw/GNU-Terry_Pratchett>>  .
<http://www.gnuterrypratchett.com/>

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