Arabic-L:LING:ethnic slurs in Yemen

[Dilworth B. Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Thu 24 Jan 2002
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject: ethnic slurs in Yemen

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1)
Date:  24 Jan 2002
From: MaryAnn Walter <walterma at MIT.EDU>
Subject: ethnic slurs in Yemen

In north Yemen, most "ethnic" jokes are about either Dhamaris or Sanaanis,
depending on which city you happen to be in.  Turkish people are known for
being good-looking, as evidenced by a well-known song titled "Jamaal
al-Turki."

In the south, at least in Hadramaut, foreigners who speak Arabic with a
strong accent or in a garbled way are called Indonuusis.  This is due to
the large number of Malaysians and Indonesians who come to the area for
religious education.  Typically they have only studied classical Arabic
and thus sound very stilted and over-careful, as well as being unable to
pronounce Arabic consonants properly.  Finally, the southerners refer to
the northerners as Ahbaash (Ethiopians) in a definitely denigratory way,
and say they are descended from slaves brought over since pre-Islamic
times.

Maryann Walter

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End of Arabic-L:  24 Jan 2002