I get email

And some of it doesn't make sense.

A cartoon was just sent to me by this site where it appears along with a couple of anti-American cartoons -- one of which shows Uncle Sam joyfully sawing the Iraq flag apart, and another showing Ambassador John Bolton, hands dripping blood, walking away from a prone figure depicting United Nations he's just stabbed in the back. So I have a vague idea that it might be anti-Western (which subsumes and encompasses being anti-American).

Here's the cartoon I received:

unknownarabic.jpg

I'm clueless, as I don't speak Arabic. But is it a coincidence that the only woman who is depicted as speaking is the female character in the only Western pair?

(It's probably bigoted to wonder.)

Can anyone translate the cartoon for a depraved Infidel blogger? I can't offer money, but hey, it's all in the interest of constructive engagement!


AFTERTHOUGHT: Those who can't translate, please free to offer captions!

posted by Eric on 12.02.06 at 05:37 PM





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Comments

Eric,

I speak and read Arabic, though lately it has been kind of rusty, having learned it in the Army and used it in the Middle East. The text in the white dialogue boxes is actually too small for me to make out, but just by what I can see in the black boxes, I think this particular cartoon is a little more inoccuous than you might think. It seems to be a comical portrayal of courtship behavior broken down between various Arab countries or regions based on the popular stereotypes that exist in the ME for each country. The title of the cartoon can be transliterated into English as Ghazal Al-Shu'ub, which translates roughly into "national courtship".

Arabic is read right to left, so the cartoon boxes should be viewed that way as well. Each black box indicates the country depicted, so read it in this order: in Egypt; Al-Sham, which is another name for Syria; Sudan; Lebanon; and finally Jordan. The physical stereotypes here are actually kind of amusing. In Egypt, women who are somewhat plump are considered very sexy, hence the fascination with belly dancing. The famous Egyptian singer Um Kulthoom, who was pretty zoftig, was considered a sex symbol in her day. In Syria women are generally of fairer complexion, so that cartoon kind of makes sense. Sudan is pretty self-explanatory; the Sudanese "Arabs" are actually very African in appearance. In fact, Bin Ladin's minions were often derisively labelled "liban" by the Sudanese, which referred to the "milky" complexion of their skin. In Lebanon, women are of course much more Western and dress more provocatively, and many of them have fair hair and eyes. The Jordanian one I'm not quite getting; like I said I can't make out the text in the actual dialogue boxes. And I'm actually kicking myself about that one, since I've travelled more extensively in Jordan than any other Arab country, except of course Iraq! All I can say is that in Jordan, you've got a true mix of women and their appearance. In Amman, you can find women who are knockout gorgeous and dress sexily like they do in Lebanon, and 25 miles away in Zarqa (Zarqawi's hometown) you've got women who might as well be in Afghanistan, so covered up are they. Anyway, the Jordanian one may concern the women in Amman, who are pretty highly educated and opinionated, at least in some circles, demonstrating why she's speaking a little derisively (so it seems) to her suitor. At any rate, it just appears that this is just the Arabic version of Andy Capp. Hope that helps, if only a little.

Chad

chad   ·  December 2, 2006 08:37 PM

She: "Upgrading to a terabyte was economically infeasible, you infidel swine."
He: "Not with the net operating loss carryover, heathen slut."

Bleepless   ·  December 2, 2006 11:56 PM

Chad, that's very interesting information. Thanks!

Bleepless...too funny!

steveH   ·  December 4, 2006 10:02 PM

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