"Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May" is a poem by Robert Herrick. This poem portrays our existence on earth, and that people age as life goes on, and everything becomes boundless. Herrick here urges people to take advantage of youth and energy while they may! The poem is in the genre of carpe diem, to seize the day.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Signs


These last couple of days I was carpooling with my sisters to work.. and unlike how when I am alone driving or with the driver, where I sit quietly and hardly have something to talk about, I am chatting and talking all the time with them.

We talk about work, weather, shopping, family & friends, life, switching & picking radio stations, and whatever we see on the way... like road signs!!

Earlier this morning the sign of Sharq got my attention! In Arabic it reads Al Sharq! It really sound odd since its Sharq and not "AL" Sharq. I am used to say my grandparents and parents lived in Sharg (Yes, with G even and not Q and without AL)!

That is one sign of many, that annoys me when I pass by, like the extension of Gulf Road when you go south. Gulf Road changes first to Blajat Street and then to "Cooperative Road"!! OK so, why Cooperative and not Al Ta'awon? Cooperative Road sounds funny to me!! And why not Khaleej Road!?!!? I mean worldwide the street names wont get translated into other languages!! Its a name! I dont say my name in Breeze in English! I am still Ansam, in all languages!!!

And how about Amr Ibn Al A'sse street? That is how they spelled last time I checked it out! It is much better than how it was spelled in the past "Amr Ibn Al Ass"... it sounded like Amr, the son of the Ass!! Now with the "e" added to the end of the Ass, between now and then it is vandalized and the "e" is removed one way or another.. it is so annoying! Why not just spell it differently? Why not Amr Ibn Alahs or something like how it is spelled on Wikipedia Amr Ibn Al-Aas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amr_Ibn_Al-Aas)!?
After all its just a name, and Amr Ibn Al-Aas is such a famous Islamic icon and should be respected!


Qurtoba is still spelled Qurtoba as well as Al-Andalus, and not Cordoba and Andalusia... (although I find those two rather nicer and easier on the ear to hear than the examples mentioned above.. heehee I guess I am just hard to please)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

actually did you notice that it says sharq and sawaber in arabic then sawaber and sharq in english.

the mirqab sign is the same, flipped for english.

and damn i didnt know they changed the gulf road name again!

isnt co-op jamaaiyeh? so its jamaaiyeh street? that doesnt sound right in arabic either. man if someone had said go to co-op street i'd be looking for a bloody co-op,... and i dontthinktheres a damn co-op there.

i thought belajat was from the holiday in traffic light junction ot the round about only.

grrrrrrr, and dont get me started on what the 40 or 30 or 50 is!

lol @ the ass sign, dammit i wish i had caught that before they changed it.

Anonymous said...

looool that's true!!!
you know what else is annoying? try to notice those steets under construction. they have a sign that says “Sorry for inconvenience” badleyaaaaaaaaaa!!! you think if they know a word like inconvenience they'd know how to use it!!!

Ansam said...

skunk-
you always make me laugh heehee
Yeah Gulf Road when you go south changes to Blajat (where maki is) then after the roundabout it becomes cooperative rd..

Signs are pretty messed up here! We need new one, and new infrastructure as well :-P

Hanan-
LOL I know its all stupid.. I got an email once about signs in other Arab countries and it was hilarious

I will look it up and email it to you

Anonymous said...

ohh ok so co-operative road is the gulf road outside of salwa going to messilah beach.

ahh well as far as i'm concerned the gulf road goes from messilah beach all to the new KOC building in shuwaikh :P

Ansam said...

yep! that works for me too ;-)

Anonymous said...

Ansam, like you said, signs are messed up here. Have you driven around in neighborhoods where the sign on the local Co-Op is spelled differently than it is on all road signs? Keifan and Shamieh come to mind. Visit their neighborhoods and you'll find mismatched spellings everywhere.

Ansam said...

Zahra-
LOL I have to pay attention next time. I saw the Al Sharq sign again this morning and went arghhhh again! LOL

Anonymous said...

hatha kila b9oob o janoob alsirra b9oob! balla 3alaihom shako fi janoob alsirraa!!! 3aib!

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