Saturday, December 7, 2013

Yesterday I learned ...

 ... that I can be referred to as "Abu Zoe" and Norma can be referred to as "Umm Zoe".
"Abu" means "father of", and "Umm" means "mother of", and are honorifics that are used by people who are friends and familiar with your family. 

Zoe can be called "Zoe bint Russ" or Zoe bint Norma" ("bint" means "daughter of", as opposed to "ibn" which means "son of"). But this usage would generally only be used to distinguish her from other Zoes. If you had two friends named Zoe, you might say "Zoe bint Norma" to distinguish which one you are talking about.

Similarly, Norma is "Norma zoujat Russ" (Norma wife of Russ) and I am "Russ zouj Norma" (Russ husband of Norma).

Just thought all that was interesting. I will be honored for anybody to call me Abu Zoe!

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