Shama Farag: March 2022

Thursday, March 17, 2022

There is a Snake in Our Backyard!

Once I was playing with my cousins in my grandma’s backyard. In the middle of the game, I found all the kids running away in different directions. I was perplexed.

“What happened?” I asked.

They said that they had found a snake. I had the urge to go and check. I saw it. I hate snakes and I fear them, but at this point, I couldn’t resist going to have a closer look. The snake was small, and it didn’t have fangs, most probably it was the kind of snake that grows in suburbs.

I had a bottle of water, and so I spilled it over its head. Then, it disappeared. Later that day, I went to my grandma and told her what had happened. She was shocked at my unprecedented bravery, then she smiled and said, “I liked how you showed up and tried to kill the snake, but attacking a snake is not a sign of bravery. It is recklessness.”

It felt like my grandma had popped my bubble. “What should I have done better? Should I leave it as it is to scare all of us away? Or should I let it stop us from playing?” I asked.

My grandma soothed my anger with a sudden big hug and she kissed me on the cheek and said,

“If you have a snake in your house, you pretend like you are bigger, you’re larger, you are here and there and everywhere. So, the snake will be disturbed, it will withhold back, and when it settles in the corner, you'll be able to trap it. Once you’re able to do that, hit it hard on the head, not on the body. Kill it. If you left a hurt snake, it will come back to avenge itself.”

I then retorted, “But that's not very kind to the snake!”

She smiled and said, “Alright. Enjoy the venom then.”

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Friday, March 11, 2022

The Reason Why You Should Never Mess with an Egyptian "Funny Tale from Egypt"

The Reason Why You Should Never Mess with an Egyptian "Funny Tale from Egypt"

Did you know that the word “Egypt” is not the Arabic word for Egypt?

Egypt was mentioned many times in the Quranic holy scriptures, but it was never mentioned as Egypt.

The Arabic term that Egyptians used to refer to Egypt is “Masr”.

Additionally, Egyptians are not named as Egyptians. They are referred to as “Masreyeen”.

Egyptian is “Masri”.

Egypt is “Masr”.

This is what the word “Masr” would look like in Arabic:

مصر

Now, the question is, where did the word Egypt come from?

There is a fun tale I once heard from an Arabic linguist about the origin of the word Egypt. The linguist mentioned that the word Egypt actually is a word that was created by Ancient Greek merchants who would travel overseas and meet with Ancient Egyptians on sea borders.

The Ancient Greek merchants in their tales were used to describe the countries of the people they would trade with. The Ancient Greeks would identify Ancient Egyptians as the people who would ask you “Eh-jept?” the first time they saw you. “Eh-jept” is a slang Egyptian term that means “What did you bring?”

So, when Ancient Egyptians met Ancient Greek traders, they did not say “Hello” or “Thank you”, but instead they would say “What did you bring?” 🤓

I personally don't know why they used this term specifically. I assume that they might be trying to refer to how practical Egyptians are. Anyways, it's good to know that people who were identified by their practicality and hard work are not people to mess with.

Do you have any Egyptian friends? Or do you know someone who is Egyptian?

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