Comment by losvedir | Hacker News Reader

Comment by losvedir | Hacker News Reader

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> English overuses it the same amount

Not even close! I only have experience in the Gulf but they use "allah" words all the time!

"Alhamdulillah" (thank god) is pretty much part of the standard greeting (Pretty much just two people rapid firing a list of phrases at each other simultaneously "peace be with you / and also peace with you / how are you / thank god / how's the family / thank god") and a frequent response to almost any question.

Anything dealing with the future or uncertainty will bring in "Inshallah" (God willing). I remember the first time I asked my cab driver to take me to my destination and he said "Inshallah" that did not give me confidence!

Then there's "bismallah" and "mashallah" which I heard a bunch. And I'm not sure if we can count "yallah, yallah" which is like "hurry, hurry, let's go" which you hear all the time and is derived from "Ya Allah".

I would be willing to bet that Gulf Arabic speakers say "Allah" literally at least 10x if not 100x more than Americans say "God".

> "Alhamdulillah" (thank god) is pretty much part of the standard greeting

Same goes with English! When parting ways, people commonly say "bye" or "goodbye" which is an evolution of "Godbye" - a contraction of "God be with ye"

I had a photoshoot scheduled with a young Somali man. He was late by over an hour, and I had another shoot after so I had to cancel. I rescheduled and told him if he was late for the next shoot I wouldn’t be rescheduling again.

He said he wouldn’t be…inshallah.

I know it’s part of their language but just as with your cab example it can be a bit annoying as an outsider, as it feels like they’re passing off responsibility. I feel the same way about some of the things Christians say too, for what it’s worth.

Anyways, that’s my infuriating inshallah story. He was late again - and he needed to find another photographer after that.

Inshallah is just a fun and useful word, I've been hearing it a lot lately from people who aren't even Muslims. I think it's on track to become a common loan word in English.

It already is one from Arabic to Spanish (ojalá for "I hope" or "hopefully")

Sounds similar to "mei ban fa" (it can't be helped) in Chinese. The words suggest something is impossible but in practice it generally just means, nope, don't feel like it.

> they’re passing off responsibility

On the other hand. For example in Kiswahili "Shauri ya Mungo" (God's business). Perhaps not exactly the same, but sufficiently similar to be interesting: that some things are in fact beyond human capability and comprehension has largely disappeared from the English language (or any language from predominately secular countries).

> that some things are in fact beyond human capability and comprehension has largely disappeared from the English language (or any language from predominately secular countries

It's still common in insurances agreements or other contracts that have to consider force majeure - natural disasters and other phenomena fall under the blanket term "Acts of God".

Also, plenty of "secular" curses/exclamations have religious connotations (because it was taboo, and cursing and the taboo are inextricably linked). "Geez", "Gazooks" (God's hooks), etc.

For one of your next trips I suggest a few months in Ireland, and if you could in particular spend time living in a slightly more rural or at least small-town type family.

Jaysus lads, that chap... Christ, sure how would ya... Holy lord! I've never heard... My God, did you hear... Lord help us and save us, she'd only...

And I'm leaving out the more vulgar variants here.

I'm not saying we'd beat some of the Arabic countries, but I definitely am saying we very well might give them a good run for their money. I'll consciously try tone it down if I'm conversing with a non-Irish person, and then with my family I'll let loose.

Maybe Americans use God-related idioms a lot less than us, of course. The U.S. is a relatively big place though, so I'd be curious to know if there aren't some corners closer to (rural?) Ireland's usage.

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