And then they say we don't speak Arabic
The biggest cock in the diplomatic world
On The Huffington Post, today:
Akbar Zib, Pakistani Diplomat, Rejected In Saudi Arabia Because Name Means ‘Biggest D**k’ In Arabic
According to reports, a well respected, high ranking Pakistani official has been rejected as ambassador to Saudi Arabia because his name, Akbar Zib, translates as ‘biggest dick’ in Arabic.
Yes, that’s really what it translates as.
Neal Ungerleider over at True/Slant helpfully tells us that Akbar is a common Muslim name that translates to “the greatest”, and Zeb is a relatively common Urdu name (زب) whose meaning in Arabic is a crude word for male genitals.
There was still no statement from the GCC countries on the reason for refusing to accept the appointment (the biggest cock) ambassador to Pakistan, where … Arab Times was not able to know the reason too, but after research and investigation shows that the Pakistani diplomat (the biggest dick) is one of the biggest specialists in the Pak-US economic relations and has held an important post in successive Pakistani governments will be responsible for almost one US-Pakistan Economic Relations
But les GCC do not want (the biggest cock) and object to the appointment and refused to give reasons.
According to Foreign Policy’s Passport blog, Zib had previously been rejected from posts in United Arab Emirates and Bahrain for similar reasons.
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WHO says we don’t speak a kind of Arabic?
Would he be rejected in Malta for the same “reason” also?
Granted, there are countries that have diplomats whose names mean what they mean… and there isn’t much one can do about it.
However, as this blog attests, nobody beats Malta where we have the “Akbar Zib”s anywhere ever in the highest echelons of the country.
Blog on, Daphne! You’re the best.
What’s the Arab word for ‘head’, as in ‘zib head’? Seems Daphne has exposed quite a few on the rock.
It doesn’t even have to be Arabic. What if the US sends us an American Jew with the name Katz which is quite common among Ashkenazi Jews who migrated to the US. It would be L-Ambaxxatur Katz, wouldn’t it?
http://www.uscib.org/index.asp?documentID=3486
I studied Arabic and there are some words in Arabic which are vulgar in Maltese.
For example:
‘hashiya’ means ‘to fear’ (‘hasha’ means ‘he feared’). I assume that when the Arabs were in Malta, the Maltese indulged in this ‘activity of copulation’ in fear, hence the word! Funny eh?
‘oosh’ means ‘bird’s nest’, this is where the Maltese vulgar equivalent ‘vagina’ is derived from.
re: Harry Purdie
the word for head in Arabic is ‘raqs’, the ‘q’ is pronounced as in Maltese.
OK, I’m no Arabophone but: hashiya (Arabic) > wahx (Maltese)
haxja (Maltese) = filling
So, in Maltese, “to make love” = “to fill” (with one’s penis, I presume). Ha mmur nahraq il-passaport.
You are right H.P. Baxxter about the ‘filling’ bit.
About Maltese being 80% Arabic, it is difficult to give an accurate percentage, that is my personal guess. I know this is debatable.
But I would not say it is unreasonable to assume that Maltese is 80% Arabic if a native speaker of Arabic masters Maltese in 6 months.
I think the hardest and most important bit about a language is to string the words together to compose a sentence and this in Maltese is similar to Arabic.
I spent time in Tunisia and Egypt and a Maltese friend of mine who cannot speak English could make himself understood in Arab countries but he was stuck in Italy and UK, despite there being many romance and English words in Maltese. Maybe this explains the 80% guess or assumption. I stand to be corrected though.
Aha! Thank you, Paul. Now I must inform my South Carolina friends that when they say ‘rag heads’, they’re really saying ‘head heads’.
Well, I think this chap can come to Malta as a diplomat. It would interesting for us to announce that we have the Akbar Zib amongst us. A magistrate or two might like it.
The Maltese language is a dialect of Arabic. Maltese is 80% Arabic.
I met Arabic-speakers in Malta who learned Maltese in six months and they speak it flawlessly and fluently.
How many British or other European expats who have lived in Malta for years can string a sentence together in Maltese, let alone speak it fluently?
Maltese is Arabic.
And where, pray tell, did you obtain this figure of “80%”? 80% of what? Nouns? Verbs? Words in the dictionary (again, which dictionary?)?
Please do yourself a favour and do not quote what seem to be scientific facts when in fact none exist.
There are a couple of good studies on the Maltese language throughout the ages. And like any other language, the Maltese language has evolved throughout its 1000 years of history. Contrary to a common misconception, the language was not introduced during the Arab occupation i.e. 870-1091, in fact the historians that accompanied Count Roger speak of a small group of Christians that greeted them in Greek, and presumably left with the raid back to their countries of origin.
The greatest Arabic influence started in the following 200 years where Siculo-Arabs settled on the island – thus the language had already a large Romantic influence. At this time the population hovered between 5000 – 8000 persons. During this time, most of these converted to Christianity (maybe not really of their free will) and thus Arabic feasts and culture were subsumed into the Christian equivalent (Randan and L-Ghid il Kbir and Il-Gemgha come to mind).
As years passed and following the arrival of the Knights, the Sicilian and Italian influence increased. Interestingly, one can trace this change from everyday utensils – the Maltese words for spoon and knife are Arabic, the words for teaspoon, fork and cup are Sicilian and Italian. Once under the British, the English word was incorporated for almost anything new that was invented during this period till this day.
[Daphne – Not just kitchen utensils, but food, too.]
Another interesting point is that this history of the Maltese language is clearly reflected through the DNA studies done on the Maltese population. These studies that have now been done both on the male and female lineage show a direct descent from the Sicilian and South Italian group.
You forgot to mention the most obvious – “Alla” for “God”.
Was, Paul, was Arabic. Since it was sundered from Arabic it has developed into a separate language
The Saudis have done well not to grant Mr. Zeb diplomatic credentials. It’s well-known he’s very irascible – gets easily aroused.
Maybe we should also become Muslims and wear the burqa.
The Maltese language has Semitic (Arab or Phoenician) origins. However it has also acquired many words from Romance (Latin) languages and English.
Most of the words used in current Maltese do not have a Semitic origin. The Semitic element is estimated at 40% or less.
As Professor J Aquilina wrote Maltese is a mixed language, similar to the English language which has Germanic roots but also French vocabulary.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltese_language
http://malta.lebaneseclub.org/
Though you are right except for the Phoenician part (all traces of that language disappeared from the Maltese language) the wikipaedia entry that you quoted is full of errors, inaccuracies and fantasies. In the 19th century, part of the Maltese history (including language) was invented to increase the patriotic feeling. The best example of this is the Maltese flag being given to us by Count Roger.
This was a real BIG issue here in Saudi….. :-)
May be this Akbar Zib will be welcome in Malta. He might be invited to join LGBT as an adviser.
Miangul Akbar Zeb is the Pakistani high commissioner to Canada. The story of his rejection as ambassador to Saudi Arabia is a hoax.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/theyve-distorted-my-name/article1463954/
Il-Malti mhuwiex djalett izda lingwa. Huwa minnu li ghandu bazi semitika (ghalkemm qatt ma smajt l-ebda lingwista isarraf dan f’ %) u elementi rumanzi u anglo-sassoni. Huwa lingwa ghaliex (apparti milli jissodisfa l-kriterji grammatici, morfologici, lessici, sintattici etc) evolva hafna mill-Gharbi, ghandu territorju u ghandu wkoll tradizzjoni ta’ letteratura. Min isejjah lil Malti djalett qieghed ibaxxih!
Why would Akbar Zib be rejected in Malta?
We have many Zibs already as it is!
English is derived from Anglo-Saxon and is in fact foreign to the country which bears its name. France is named for the Franks who occupied it ….. etc etc etc most languages are derived or are a combination of others.
The most powerful country in the world does not even have its own language, after all.
Incidentally, the Maltese genome is most closely related to the Spanish. This is probably due to the Arabs who left their DNA both in Malta and in Spain and were subsequently pushed into the Barbary Coast to establish the Maghreb.