The Things People Say…

The Things People Say…

…really need to change in the UAE. Kipp’s struck by the sorts of euphemisms in vogue in the UAE.

July 10, 2011 4:09 by Eva Fernandes

There are various schools of thought on the matter, but when it comes to the effect of language in our lives, Kipp leans dangerously close to those who believe language plays a pivotal role in how we understand the world around us.

Now we’ve gotten into all kinds of arguments with friends who disagree and believe that “third-class-citizen” and “n*****” are acceptable words to use, regardless of their connotations; so we know attempting to rationalise with those in the non-PC camp is sometimes just an exercise in futility, which is why we aren’t going down that route today.

The reason this issue is being brought up is because this weekend while mauling over the classifieds with our morning cup of tea, we were overwhelmed by the language being used by UAE residents. Now, this isn’t the first time we’ve encountered strange UAE-isms, we’ve been around long enough to become immune to the brand of English particular to the UAE-but for some reason we couldn’t get over what we read.

“Decent executive bachelor has bed space for another decent executive bachelor.”

“3 year-old Tida for sale Lady Driven”

“Blue-eyed receptionist needed urgently.”

Now, what exactly is an executive bachelor? And is it so important, in this day and age, to identify cars as lady driven or man driven? And, and, and, can one ever need a blue-eyed receptionist urgently?

In this war of words, surely there are more casualties then there are victors. And if indeed the kind of language we use reflects the thoughts and hierarchies present in our minds, then what does the UAE-speak say about the way we think?