nam means yes

We had another dust storm a few days ago which looked more like fog than sand…until you opened your mouthed and inhaled, you then quickly realized it was more than fog (or so my “friend” says because I would never do something as silly as that). I was not complaining though because the sand blots out the sun dropping the temperature by 20 - 30 degrees. A usual walk to the chow hall in 125 degree weather suddenly becomes bearable in 100 degree weather. So pick your poison, walk while chewing air thus arriving at the chow hall half full or sweat out of pores you didn’t know you had…either way it’s not paradise. Also, the dust is so fine it gets inside the buildings and offices. In the Palace there are several large banquet size rooms with Cathedral ceilings so when the dust storm came through even these large rooms had a cloud of dust hovering over them. It almost looked like someone was grilling food in the offices or there was a big Palace bon fire somewhere. I grabbed a plate and quickly looked for the party only to find it was nothing more than a cloud of sand…don’t judge me, it’s the little things that are exciting around here.
Now for another Arabic language lesson and how it applies to my life here. The word “yes” in Arabic is “nam” pronounced so it rhymes with Tom. “No” in Arabic is “la” pronounced just as it is spelled. Now my whole life I have been accustom to hearing “no” as a negative and “yes” as an affirmative, follow me so far? Ok, when we sit in meetings and I hear an answer to a yes or no question start as “nnn” my natural reaction is to think “no”, when actually they are saying yes. Likewise, with yes, “la” sounds much like “ya” so again I hear “la la la” and my first reaction is to think they agree. To compound the issue some local individuals know some English so they will frequently answer your yes or no questions in English for whatever reason. Well, I’m not that quick so our conversations several times have turned into an Abbot and Costello routine with us going back and forth trying to figure out why he said “nnn-am” yet he agrees? I thought you said no? Wait, you say la…so you agree? ”No Mr Dauood, I do not agree…”. Never mind the other guy that replies “no” in English just to confuse the matter. In the end, it could make for a great comedic skit. I’m starting to wonder if any other higher level people have had issues with this and if so I wonder how many major problems have been caused because of the nam/la conundrum, as I like to call it. In the end, I’m exaggerating the situation for humor but I did find it comical having to sit there and tell myself “remember nam means yes…”.
Ok, I’m off to watch a $2 knock off movie from the Haji Shop…comments are encouraged.