Quote:
Originally Posted by Midoria
Actually, it was the use of a "g" sound where a "j" usually is that lead to me ask that question. It's a very common Egyptian thing. Like women named "Najla" might be called "Nagla".
As far as what other Egyptians call things, I wouldn't know. The few Arab friends that I had were quite religious and thusly called things by their proper/Qur'anic names. So hijab was usually called "khimar".
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Dear Midoria,
The hard G seems to happen in Egypt and a few other locations,but in the Middle East, including the Levant, most people seem to use soft J sound. For example, an Egyptian friend has a son named Amgad. Our Jordanian friends tend to call him Amjed and our Saudi and gulf friends call him Amjad. It is the same way with a lot of words. I have never head an Egyptian say "Hijab", so I can not be very helpful with how they would say the word. Usually head scarves and other covering seem to be called meliya and shall. Hopefully Gypsy will respond to you, because I could call and ask a bunch of people, but she might know off the top of her head. I am going to dinner in a few minutes with a Saudi friend. I will try to remember to ask her if Egyptians use the word Hijab. She has spent a lot of time there and is married to an Alexandrian.
Regards,
A'isha