Dear Ali: What is the best way to address and show the appropriate respect to someone who is in a high position in a GCC-based organisation? Is “sheikh” the best option? HG, Italy
Dear HG: Addressing anyone at any organisation depends on their positions in their social life and at work. If you want to title them as sheikh, then first you have to make sure that they’re actually from a royal family, or from a well-known tribe in the region which is honoured with the title of sheikh.
If you address a sheikh, then make sure that it’s followed by his or her full name. If the person is not a sheikh, then it’s not appropriate to use that title.
There’s also another twist to this, since in Arabic we have a family name of “Al Shaikh” –this is a last name and not a title, so it doesn’t necessarily mean that he is a sheikh.
To make this even more interesting, an Arab man’s first name could also be Sheikh. If this is the case, his parents must have been really smart, because that’s how you have to address him.
If the person that you’re addressing has a PhD, then it’s definitely recommended that you address them by saying “Doctor”, followed by their name. I haven’t finished my PhD yet, but already many of my friends sometimes call me Dr Ali, because they are aware that I’m in the process of getting my PhD degree.
Also there is “HE”, which stands for His or Her Excellency. That’s easy to find out from the person’s position and title; it’s always recommended to refer to ambassadors, for example, as HE, followed by the name of the person.
Dear Ali: I’ve read some of your Arabic sayings on your Twitter account and I’ve been wondering if there’s anything related to luck in Arabic proverbs? OP, Al Ain
Dear OP: Believe it or not, almost every conversation that people have here would have at least one or more proverb involved; this is simply because they are part of our everyday language.
For example, if we’re watching football with friends and the opposing team is winning because of some lucky break or an unfair call by the referee, we might say: “If luck was a man, I would kill him.”
A very famous proverb, which is considered a great one as well, about luck is: “Give me some luck and throw me in the sea.”
It reminds me of an interesting Bulgarian proverb with a similar meaning, but different wording: “Bear me with luck, and throw me in the garbage.”
We believe that luck is something that cannot be controlled, so we often use proverbs to express this frustration.
One of my favourites also is “The crown of virtue is modesty”.
Ali Al Saloom is a cultural adviser and public speaker from the UAE. Follow @AskAli on Twitter, and visit www.ask-ali.com to ask him a question and to find his guidebooks to the UAE, priced at Dh50.
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