Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Nosy Egyptians

Egyptians are nosy (as per the title of this post). It seems that they can't keep their ideas and opinions and intrusive questions to themselves. Don't get me wrong, I think in some sense we are all "nosy" in that we like to know tidbits about others' lives. But Egyptians take it to a new level.

For one, Egyptians are very interested in knowing whether or not a woman is pregnant. If she is, MABROUK, if she isn't, WHY? Just a few weeks after I first got married, the "are you pregnant" questions began. To be honest, I was expecting them since I know many Egyptians are without boundaries. But the questions have become tedious now. Every time we bump into someone we know (or someone my husband knows, since I don't know anyone!), they always ask is there anything yet? And by that they mean IS THERE AN UNBORN FETUS IN YOUR WIFE'S WOMB?

We were shopping for baby gifts a few weeks ago for one of my pregnant family members, and even in the stores, people would look at me, then look at my stomach to see if there was anything. Argh!

Well we came to an unorthodox solution...now whenever someone asks if I'm pregnant, I say that my husband and I agreed that he would carry the first child. And that seems to shut them up.

HAH!

5 comments:

sara said...

Hahahah! I think that's a great response :)

Also ...

<3

Anonymous said...

I too wonder why Egyptians are so nosy. The question that really annoys me is "Are you married? As far as I'm concerned, this is no one's business. Any good retorts you can think of to that?

Elizabeth said...

Love it!

mariyam said...

asmaa dede.... you have a halarious blog every single week:)

Asmaa said...

Anon, "ask my mom, she deals with these things." I actually once basically used that line when an Arab mom was trying to poach me for her son. She asked if I was engaged, and I said "talk to my mom" and pointed in her direction. Ultimate way to avoid the situation, considering Arab mothers like each other a lot.

Or just pretend to get a phone call and walk away, etc. there's lots of rude (in a good way) things you can do to get out of these situations. Use your imagination! :)