We were about 20 people, doing BBQ at a friend's house.
I was talking to a Syrian friend called Jehad, after I was done I went to help my friend Bob with the BBQ.
bob asked, "Dude, is that guy's name Jehad?"
-I answered, "Yes"
-"Doesn't Jehad mean Holy War?"
- "Sometimes, but the meaning is more broad"
- "So is this his real name or did he call himself so"
-"No dude its his real name"
-"So is he a holy warrior"
- "No he's not, his name means struggle in Arabic", I explained
- "So his name means struggle?"
- "Kinda"
- "Struggle against Americans?"
- "No dude, the word was there before there were Americans. It means struggle between the good and the evil."
- "So he thinks that Americans are the evil now"?
- "No man I don't think so, he's American himself"
- "But why would his parents call him struggle?"
- "I don't know man, all Arabic names mean something, his name means struggle between the good and the evil, his parents liked it"
- "And what does Fares mean?"
- "It means Knight"
-" Night??"
- "No, knight with a K"
- " Oooo Knight, nice, why did your parents call you knight?"
Laughing hard I answered, "So I can ride a horse and fight the evil"
Should ask him why your name is robert and the call you bob.
ReplyDeletehahahah i could not help but to laugh.
ReplyDeletei have a few cousins named jehad and they went through the same thing. the only thing you can do is explian in a calm way and hope some will be intelligent enough to understand.
Slick dialogue. Should be in a scene in a David Mamet play.
ReplyDeletehahahahahaa
ReplyDeleteLOLLLLLLLLLL!!
ReplyDeleteI really doubt that I could've left this conversation conscious.
I would've fainted of laughter!
Fares, real funny!! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletehamede, lol !
ReplyDeleteLinda, it's not easy to explain for sure.
Amin Matalqa... I don't know who David Mamet is but your comment sounds like a compliment, so thank you !
moey, lotusgem, summer.... thank you for reading
so I can ride a horse and get to the princess*
ReplyDeletethat would be my answer if I was named Fares:P
LOOOL .. he probably thought that all Arabic names revolve around war and fighting back .. LOL .. at least our names have "meanings" ..
ReplyDeleteI always wondered why William is shortened to Bill ..?!