5 November 2008

Guys & Girls; Greetings & Hello's

I was sleeping.

*ring ring*

Who could be calling me at this ungodly hour (ahem, 10am)? I picked up..

- الو؟‎
Hello?

- ها، ليلحين راقد؟
Ha.. You're still sleeping?

- شرايك يعني، شتبي؟
What does it sound like? What‏‎'s up?

- تعال خذني من يورو موترز بعد عشر دقايق
Pick me up from the EuroMotors showroom in 10 mins

- ثلث ساعة
20 mins.

- اوكي
Ok.
*‏تووووت*
*Hangs up*

This was a guy i've been friends with for years, but haven't seen in ages. It's amazing being a guy; things are just so straightforward and simple, no headaches with feelings and make-believe emotions etc.

I can picture the same conversation with two girls;

*ring ring*

- الو؟‎
Hello?

- امووون! وي صج صج من زمااااان!! شلونج شخبارج؟!
Amoon! Wowwwwww it's been sooooo long!! How are youuu how's everything?!

- فطومووو وينج انتي وااايد وحشتيني!!!
Fatooommooo! Nooo, where have you been!! I missed you so muchhh!!

- ... اي والله! شلون ابوج و امج و اخوج و اختج و ربعج و قطوتج و
Yeah I know! Hows your dad? And mom? And brother and sister and your friends and cat and...

...and so the conversation goes on for half an hour discussing the most pointless issues, not evening getting to the point which is 'come pick me up'. No no no. That's not how it works for girls; this has to be a preliminary conversation a week prior to calling another girl to ask her to pick you up (otherwise, it's considered rude). All this and the girls haven't seen each other since last weekend.

Funny stuff. Another thing I notice is when girls meet each other in a restaurant/shop/mall/etc and greet each other (this is more specifically true of Middle-Eastern girls, I dunno about outside this region). The greeting is composed of different stages; the first is the one where they spot each other and act totally amazed (hence the big eyes, running to each other, usually screaming), then comes the second stage of greetings which is made of up of endless kissing and hugging, then the post-greeting stage, where they sit and ask each other everything from how they're doing, how their family and friends are, what they've been up to at work/college, to what perfume they're wearing and whether they got fatter/thinner.

You might think it's a bit of an exaggeration but it's not. It becomes more clear that these greeting rituals are ridiculous especially when you find out they haven't seen each other since... Again, about last weekend.

I prefer the guy greetings; you're walking down the road, you spot a friend you haven't in YEARS on the other side of the road, and he spots you too. You raise a thumbs up:

- Hey.

- Hey.

Done, end of story; move on, nothing to see here, no endless streams of fake emotions or hugging. And this is an extreme greeting; on a normal day, a simple head nod would do; no need for words or thumbs up.

It's great to be a guy.

Bluh.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

cool! although if i was you i wouldn't do favours for 'friends' i haven't seen in a long time! but that's just in a girl's world right?!

plus, i think this 'pick me up' move is not made for girls!! they're just not good at it ;P

Woozie said...

Is it just me or have you failed to make any mention of a significant event that just took place in the world yesterday? I’m pretty sure you have.

Ammaro said...

moonlight; lol, you girls just overexaggerate everything

wooz; you mean the whole obama thing? I gave that a mention... but seriously, everyone's talked about it so much that it feels worthless to point it out. anyway, my opinion on it? the guy talks too big, and although he means well i dont think he'll be able to do as he preaches. also, assassination attempts.

Woozie said...

I meant Sarah Palin going the fuck back to Alaska. The Obama thing's pretty cool too I guess.

June said...

Also you forgot to mention that the girls there are incredibly bitchy, i.e. one will walk up to two girls, single out her friend, say hi to her, won't even bother saying hello to the other girl. Or those hugs and kisses and questions will be laced with sarcasm, rudeness or pity and will be so blatantly fake, it hurts. Very rare to find genuinely friendly girls in Bahrain and that's why you need the bullshit prerequisites you mentioned. With my best friend our conversations are very much like the one you had with your mate (when we're in the same country anyway).

Anonymous said...

As a bahraini girl, that is unfortunatelly true and it sucks. Maybe when I first started to see old friends and do that long greeting story I felt good, nice to talk to old friends and show them my happiness eagerly, but then it became a very boring and silly, rediculious stupid habit.

I envy guys that they're guys for other readons, big reasons!

BuZain said...

:) *




* short and straightforward for saying thanks for the laugh man :)

Chem_Eng said...

Hey there,,
Well, as a gurl..for me my close friends it is okay to call anytime to pick me up ,, or ask for any favor at anytime,
but askin a firend who i havnt seen for years it would be embarcing for me :S .. she'll say she dint call illa for (ma9la7a) !
but if she called me it would be very cool to me n i wouldnt say that..
soo it differs from a gurl to another..

n abt the GREETINGS thing. ya i agree most of the girls act like that.. u know (mujaamalat) n stuff,, but i really hate that :S

so again not all the gurlz have the same attiude.. but most off them share the same ..

regards,, ^_^

Anonymous said...

do you have any respect for women whatsoever?!

what you wrote is absolute RUBBISH.. moreover the two examples you gave are not related to each other whatsoever..

prolonged greetings are a trend in our region, and not practiced by women alone.. if you, as a man, don't lengthen your greetings, it doesn't mean other people don't..

try to look deeper into it and try to be more tolerant.. this form of greeting obviously has its cultural roots.. my guess is that due to how conservative and family-oriented our society has been, it is considered impolite to jump into the subject straightforwardly, and it is more polite to pay attention to addressee first before asking for anything..

Ammaro said...

amal; wahahahhahahahahahhhahah
ahahahhahahahahahahahahaahahahhahahah
ahahhhahahahahahhahahahahahahah
ahaahahahhahahahahahhhahahahahahhahahahahahahahahaahahahhahahahahahhhahahahahahhahahahahahahahahaahahahhahahahahahhhahahahahahhahahahahahahahahaahahahhahahahahahhhahahahahahhahahahahahahahahaahahahhahahahahahhhahahahahahhahaha
hahahahahaha...

oh man... seriously... people like you always brighten up my day :) i love how worked up you got about this; check out the "women talk too much and men don't listen" thing i wrote a while back, should get you even more worked up, and in turn, brighten up my day even more! :D

Broke Saudi said...

Hmmm now I know some women love to talk on the phone, but I've heard men that talk as much when it comes for asking a favor. The call of a million "how are yous", which is enough to prove that male calls are just as earful. Earful? Does it go there?

Anonymous said...

1) no way can a woman pick another up in a matter of 10 mins.. u forgot the whole 'makeup/hair/etc' thing!

2) totally agree with what u wrote.

3) totally agree with June.. and yes i'd pick u up in a heartbeat! (i'm referring to June, not you Ammaro!)

4) i agree on the assassination attempt.

rosh said...

hahaha! SOOOOOOOOOOOOO TRUE ya raayal!! If you happen to be in midst of them, rest assured if not the girly TLC, the gallons of perfume or fluttering lashes shall knock you off hahaha!

KJ said...

but then girls won't have anything to gossip about with their real friends if they didn't have these greetings with other people :P

soso said...

loooooooool funny and totally true :P

Shwaish said...

i know! ilmoshkila ana i can keep for like a second then it gets awkward and i start repeating myself :(

Anonymous said...

Hmmm well ammaro, I'm glad that doesn't apply to me,even if i'm female, hahahahaha...

Missy said...

since u know everything about bahrain :p do u know if we have a orphanage o wain.. o etha fe telephone number? :)

Ammaro said...

missy; there's one next to the UAE embassy/khawla school (the back road between exhibition road and adliya?). Not sure of the number though.

Missy said...

they told me about it 2day :)

thankxx ne'wayss :D

Ali said...

Heheheh So right,

We can't help it we just get to the point but women seem to not get the idea that it cost money to talk on the phone and plus their vocal cords are stronger than men they just won't shut up...TRUST ME I know.

Anonymous said...

SO very TRUE!

sorry sistaz - truth hurts, so don't jump me!