Arabic-L:LING:bosta query

[Dilworth B. Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Wed 01 Nov 2000
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject: bosta query

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1)
Date: 01 Nov 2000
From: Dil Parkinson <dil at byu.edu>
Subject: bosta query

A student came up the other day and asked me what bosta meant in Arabic,
and I told him it meant the Post Office, and he told me about a Fayruz Song
called al-bosta, so I said facetiously that it must be something like the
Pop Song "Please Mr. Postman" or something.
Anyway, the next day he brings me a translation of the lyrics of the song
that he got off the net, and it has to do with a bus rather than the mail.
Knowing next to nothing about Fayruuz lyrics, and about as little about
Lebanese dialects, I was stumped.  Can someone tell me whether bosta means
'bus' in Lebanese dialect in general (or in some more specific one).
It's possible that he has the wrong word, or course, or that I misheard.
If there is some kind of isogloss between where bosta means post office and
where it means bus, where would that isogloss be?
For your reference, here are the lyrics of the song he downloaded.
Dil

The Bus Song
I am so eager to see your eyes
That I crossed great distances for them
You have no idea what your dark eyes stir in me
By the roar of the bus we traveled
And I remembered you, Alia
And I remembered your eyes
And God forgive you, Alia
What beautiful eyes you have.
On our way up, it was so hot we reeked
Some ate lettuce others munched on figs
This one guy brought with him his wife
God, how ugly was that wife
I envy them the passengers to Tannurin
They take things in stride
But they don't know, Alia
What beautiful eyes you have.
Way up we went without even paying our fare
Sometimes we trussed the rattling door
Sometimes we calmed the passengers
The guy with his wife blushed
And his wife got dizzy
I swear he would have let her
Go up on her own
Had he known, Alia,
What beautiful eyes you have
O driver, if you'd only shut that window
The wind, O driver
We'll catch cold from the wind
The wind, O driver.


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End of Arabic-L: 01 Nov 2000