Hello I find your blog very helpful, especially your post about terminology and the one about Christmas. I have recently realised that despite being athiest I tend to say 'Christ' or 'Jesus Christ' alot when I am shocked, like if someone makes me jump and was wondering if there was a equivalent that Joe would be likely to say? Thank you.
Hello!
COMMON USAGE OF RELIGIOUS PHRASES
Yeah, like you said, religious phrases are intertwined with so many languages, and it’s a pretty thoughtless thing to use them expressions or in place of things like ‘please’ ‘seriously?’ and ‘that’s insane/terrible/amazing!’
If you mean in English or even French and Italian then Joe will use what’s already staples of that language like, as you said, Jesus Christ! and Oh My God! Like how he said Santa Maria madre di Dio in the movie, because that’s an Italian phrase similar to Oh My God! or even nom de Dieu de merde (for shitty God’s sake) which is kinda like ‘Jesus fucking Christ’ in French.
If you mean in Arabic, some things for he and Nicky to say that he then taught to the rest of the Old Guard, then a lot of the aforementioned phrases I listed in my terminology post. You can use pretty much all of them outside religious context, most people do, but I’ll expand a little on a couple.
For example:
If you see something wondrous or beautiful or hear good news it tends to be followed by Allah! or Ya Allah! (O God!) which, like I mentioned before, it’s most likely where the Spanish word Olé! comes from, used in a similar manner. Oh My God! basically, but in a positive manner. (I use it a lot when I see something tasty, beautiful or cute like Wow! or Aww!)
Say, Nicky presents him with a Damascus steel sword at some point at the start of their relationship and he’s in awe and pleased, or he sees a rainbow after a storm, and he’s like Allah!
Under that are Mashallah (God willing) and Ismallah (God’s name) which can be used as a compliment like ‘God bless you/Good for you/That’s good!/ Wow!/Knock on wood!’ and, like everything else on this list, can be used sarcastically/mockingly, in the vein of Goddamn like ‘Wow (Mashallah) Booker, you really thought Merrick had your best interest at heart?’ or someone says something very stupid like ‘I invested all my money in floppy disks’ and you’re like ‘...God bless you (Ismallah aleik)'.
Then there’s the meme staple: Estaghfarallah/Astaghfurallah/Istaghfarallah, etc. (Ask God’s Forgiveness) could come the closest to Jesus Christ! as a response to exasperating news or someone that did something stupid or even that something really fucked up happened i.e. stuff you disapprove of on a fundamental level. Accompanied by rolling eyes or frustration or, at worst, a shout.
In a lighthearted way it’s close to Yikes or SMH or Dude, what the fuck? It’s in a lot of cheesy memes.
(So much discourse has some Big Astaghfarallah Energy).
Alhamdulillah (Praise God)—shortened to Hamdellah in some dialects—is basically Oh, Thank God! an expression of relief. It can be interchangeable with Ahmedak Ya Rab (literally Praise God) but that one is for really good news or occurrences, like when Nile came to their rescue in the lab. Inshallah (God willing) is used as ‘We’ll see’ or ‘That’ll happen’ or ‘If you say so’. Like ‘Joe, they say by the year 2000 we’ll have flying cars!’ ‘Sure we will (Inshallah)’.
Allahoa’lam is a response, almost literally the same phrase and use as God Only Knows when someone asks you something, can be genuine or cranky/sarcastic. ‘Yusuf, how do you damascene steel?’ ‘God knows (Allahoa’lam) how the Syrians make those blades look like that’.
Wallahi is literally ‘and God’ but it’s used as I Swear to God and along the lines of Seriously? and Honestly in responses, used in all moods. Like ‘Honestly (Wallahi), I can’t tell you what a dodo bird actually looked like because we weren’t in that part of the world at the time’ or ‘Booker, if you don’t get out of my sight I swear to God (Wallahi) I’ll punt you off the London Eye’.
Other examples: ‘Seriously, (Wallahi ya) Joe, I’m telling you, Napoleon was an average-sized man, depicting him child-sized was demeaning propaganda!’ or ‘Hey, Joe, did you know the word algebra comes from the Arabic word al-jabr?’ ‘Really?/You don’t say (Wallahi)?’
Haram literally means ‘forbidden’ but outside a religious context it’s used as That’s awful! or How could you/they? / What is wrong with you/them? (attached to ‘aleik = you or ‘aleihom = them) kinda of like Have you no shame? or generally a response to anything upsetting, depending on the tone it can be Estaghfarallah’s nicer alternative, more pitying than judging. Or it can be reprimanding like if you see someone dragging their dog by their collar or generally being a dick the response would be haram ‘aleik(i)! = What is wrong with you?/Cut that out!
Then there’s stuff like Rabina yakhdak (May God Take You) essentially means ‘Go die’ but it’s used as Fuck off! or Go fuck yourself!, same goes for Allah yel’anak (May God Curse You). There’s also Allah Yeqrefak (May God Repulse You) for when someone says or does something gross/fucked up.
In Tintin in the Land of the Black Gold they slip in a bit where a character says ‘May God Curse You, you son of a bitch, I hope he curses your father too!’ i.e. ‘Fuck you, you son a bitch and fuck your father too’. The dog is not impressed. ‘Don’t listen to him, Tintin, he’s saying very nasty things’.
The greeting A-Salam ‘Aleikom / Assalamu ‘Aleikum (Peace Be Upon You) can sort of be included here because it’s short for a-salam ‘aleikom we rahmat Allah we barakatuh (May Peace, God’s Mercy and Blessings Be Upon You). Can even just be shortened to just Salam. When you depart you say Ma’ A-Salama (Go with Peace/Safety). You can sorta kinda combine it with Alhamdulillah as Hamdellah ‘al Salama / Hamdella ‘Assalama (Praise God for Safety) to greet someone when they arrive somewhere, like after a trip.
Obligatory Salma ya Salama by Dalida.
There’s a bunch of others stuff I’m probably forgetting, but these are the ones I use on a regular basis.
But, in general, he’ll use English phrases same goes for any language, be it Jesus Christ or For God’s sake! etc. and whatever the equivalent in any other language it is.
