My darija language skills are not great. I realized today I don’t know the word stairs. Something I walk up and down ten times a day and I don’t know the word for. However, I know ten different ways to observe that the weather is miserable: Kayn stha. Ila Ansar. Brrd. Fogg. Firedon. Tilj bezzaf! Dema stha! Dwab rammadi. Diehea dyal la ma. Le jw, stha, Lahemdullah.
Conversely, I also know a couple ways of saying that the weather is nice such as: Shimsh, Shimsh Bezzaf, Shimsh schon bezzaf. Le jw zween.
The reason I know all this about the weather is that it is perfect topic of conversation. I know I have made this assertion before to my friends and been told that you only talk to people about the weather when you have nothing else to talk about. They may be right but that does not prevent the weather from being my favorite thing to talk about. Here is why:
- Everybody has access to it. Unlike current events or sports teams or most any other topic, everybody can talk about the weather because all they have to do to access it is look outside.
- It affects everybody. This is more true in less developed places where if it rains there are no roads, only big puddles where roads used to be. Or if it snows, since houses aren’t heated, you are going to be colder and more miserable the otherwise.
So speaking of weather, I stopped wearing a watch. Why? Because it is almost always time-to-stay-inside-because-its-raining-so-hard-outside-that-if-you-leave-the-house-you-will-get-wet-and-it-will-be-days-before-you-are-warm-and-dry-again o’clock.
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