History of the word احم احم F*ck !

What the Bleep do we know ?!

About the Arabic Language

from http://www.translationtoarabic.com

The term classical Arabic refers to the standard form of the language used in all writing and heard on television and radio as well as in mosques. The diverse colloquial dialects of Arabic are interrelated but vary considerably among speakers from different parts of the Middle East. These dialects differ from standard Arabic and from one another in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar and are usually labeled according to major geographic areas, such as North African, Egyptian, and Gulf. Within these broad classifications, the daily speech of urban, rural, and nomadic speakers is distinctively different. Illiterate speakers from widely separated parts of the Arab world may not understand one another, although each is speaking a version of Arabic. The sound system of Arabic has 28 consonants, including all the Semitic guttural sounds produced far back in the mouth and throat. Each of the three vowels in standard Arabic occurs in a long and short form, creating the long and short syllables so important to the meter of Arabic poetry. Although the dialects retain the long vowels, they have lost many of the short-vowel contrasts.

All Arabic word formation is based on an abstraction, namely, the root, usually consisting of three consonants. These root sounds join with various vowel patterns to form simple nouns and verbs to which affixes can be attached for more complicated derivations. For example, the borrowed term "bank" is considered to have the consonantal root b-n-k; film is formed from f-l-m. Arabic has a very regular system of conjugating verbs and altering their stems to indicate variations of the basic meaning. This system is so regular that dictionaries of Arabic can refer to verbs by a number system (I-X). From the root k-s-r, the Form I verb is "kasar"="he broke"; Form II verb is "kassar"="he smashed to bits"; and Form VII is "inkasar"="it was broken up." Nouns and adjectives are less regular in formation, and have many different plural patterns. The so-called broken plurals are formed by altering the internal syllable shape of the singular noun. For example, for the borrowed words bank and film, the plurals are, respectively, "bunuk" for banks, and "aflam" for films.

Normal sentence word order in standard Arabic is verb-subject-object. In poetry and in some prose styles, this word order can be altered; when that happens, subject and object can be distinguished by their case endings, that is, by suffixes which indicate the grammatical function of nouns. These suffixes are only spelled out fully in school textbooks and in the Quran to ensure an absolutely correct reading. In all other Arabic texts, these case endings (usually short vowels) are omitted, as are all internal short-vowel markings.

The Arabic script does not include letters for these vowels; instead, they are small marks set above and below the consonantal script. The Arabic script, which is derived from that of Aramaic, is written from right to left. It is based on shapes that vary according to their connection to preceding or following letters. Using a combination of dots above and below 8 of these shapes, the full complement of 28 consonants and the 3 long vowels can be fully spelled out. The Arabic alphabet has been adopted by non-Semitic languages such as Modern Persian (or Farsi), Urdu, Malay, and some West African languages such as Hausa. The use of verses from the Quran in Arabic script for decoration has led to the development over 1400 years of many different calligraphic styles. Calligraphy is a high art form in the Arab world.

The long history of Arabic includes periods of high development in literature. The Arabic of medieval writing is termed Classical Arabic. Modern Standard Arabic is a descendant of Classical Arabic; frequently, however, the stylistic influence of French and English is evident. In the 20th century, in particular, much scientific, medical, and technical vocabulary has been borrowed from French and English.

Arabic belongs to the Semitic branch of AFROASIATIC LANGUAGES and is the national language of about 250 million inhabitants of North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. Outside these areas, it is spoken by Arabs living in Israel, and in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa, North and South America, and Soviet Central Asia. Since it is the language of the QURAN some limited knowledge of it exists throughout the Muslim world.

All Arabs have as their mother tongue some local variety of Arabic. These vernaculars differ markedly so that, for example, Moroccan Arabic is virtually unintelligible in Iraq. The local vernacular is used in everyday commerce, but rarely written. Contrasting to the local vernaculars is standard, or formal, Arabic, which is used for writing and formal speech. Because it must be learned at school, large sectors of the Arab public do not command it sufficiently to use it themselves, although radio and other media are gradually spreading its comprehension. Standard Arabic has remained remarkably stable. In grammar and basic vocabulary the Arabic literature produced from the 8th century to the present is strikingly homogenous; the works of medieval writers differ from the standard Arabic hardly more than Shakespeare's language differs from modern English.

Standard literary Arabic is capable of expressing the finest shades of meaning. The vernaculars in their present form cannot perform the same task. If they were adapted, such a development would fatally split the unity of the Arab world. Today tensions exist between the standard language and the vernaculars, particularly in imaginative literature. In drama the demand for realism favors the vernacular, and many poets are tending toward their mother tongue. In the novel and short story, the trend is toward having the characters speak in the vernacular while the author uses formal language. Some of the most celebrated living novelists and poets, however, write exclusively in the standard language.

The term Middle East refers collectively to Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen, and the states and emirates along the southern and eastern fringes of the Arabian peninsula, namely, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (Cyprus, Iran, Israel, and Turkey are not Arab countries and have different cultures and languages). Other Arab countries which are not geographically part of the Middle East, but are, nevertheless, integral parts of the Arab world are: Sudan and Djibouti in East Africa; and Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, and to some extent Chad. Presently more than 200 million Arabs are living mainly in 21 countries. The Arabic language is the main symbol of cultural unity among these people.

12 Rules for a Hero's Destiny

by Arupa Tesolin, Intuita

1. Any concept imperfectly created will be limited by the magnitude of its imperfection.

2. A vision born in the heart and beheld with clarity in the mind must, in obedience to the law of creation, be created in the world of form.

3. If you can create without doubt, you are no doubt a creator.

4. If you see the glass is half-empty, you are seeing the circumstance not the dream. To transcend the circumstance you must see what's not there.

5. True commitment begins when we can reach the point of not knowing how we can possibly go on and decide to do it anyway.

6. To set a goal is to limit infinity.

7. When you are tested ask why. What purpose does it serve? What am I learning here? Sometimes an apparent setback or disappointment serves the greater purpose of galvanizing desire or birthing a greater success.

8. Act as though you already are who you want to be, are already doing what you want to do, and already have what you want to have.

9. Money isn't everything. It's a resource, one of many. All resources to support you come from but one source - your infinity.

10. Decide what you need and ask for it. Imagine your every request being fulfilled.

11. Give your best to every client, whether small or large. You never know to whom you are offering your gifts. If you did, you'd be humbled.

12. Perfection is REAL. Be perfect in the quality of your beingness. Offer yourself as it's devoted servant. Become the hero of your life.

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Arupa Tesolin is a Speaker, Seminar Leader and widely published international writer on Management, Training and Innovation topics. Her company Intuita provides live learning events, products and e-learning courses for management, workforce and career development. Visit http://www.intuita.com for details.

من روائع جبران خليل جبران

    البعض نحبهم
لكن لا نقترب منهم ........ فهم في البعد أحلى
وهم في البعد أرقى .... وهم في البعد أغلى

والبعض نحبهم
ونسعى كي نقترب منهم
ونتقاسم تفاصيل الحياة معهم
ويؤلمنا الابتعاد عنهم
ويصعب علينا تصور الحياة حين تخلو منهم.

والبعض نحبهم
ونتمنى أن نعيش حكاية جميله معهم
ونفتعل الصدف لكي نلتقي بهم
ونختلق الأسباب كي نراهم
ونعيش في الخيال أكثر من الواقع معهم

والبعض نحبهم
لكن بيننا وبين أنفسنا فقط
فنصمت برغم الم الصمت
فلا نجاهر بحبهم حتى لهم لان العوائق كثيرة
والعواقب مخيفه ومن الأفضل لنا ولهم أن تبقى
الأبواب بيننا وبينهم مغلقه...

والبعض نحبهم
فنملأ الأرض بحبهم ونحدث الدنيا عنهم
ونثرثر بهم في كل الأوقات
ونحتاج إلى وجودهم .....كالماء ..والهواء
ونختنق في غيابهم أو الابتعاد عنهم

والبعض نحبهم
لأننا لا نجد سواهم
وحاجتنا إلى الحب تدفعنا نحوهم
فالأيام تمضي
والعمر ينقضي
والزمن لا يقف
ويرعبنا بأن نبقى بلا رفيق

والبعض نحبهم
لان مثلهم لا يستحق سوى الحب
ولا نملك أمامهم سوى أن نحب
فنتعلم منهم أشياء جميله
ونرمم معهم أشياء كثيرة
ونعيد طلاء الحياة من جديد
ونسعى صادقين كي نمنحهم بعض السعادة

والبعض نحبهم
لكننا لا نجد صدى لهذا الحب في
قلوبهــم
فننهار و ننكسر
و نتخبط في حكايات فاشلة
فلا نكرههم
ولا ننساهم
ولا نحب سواهم
ونعود نبكيهم بعد كل محاوله فاشلة

.. والبعض نحبهم ..

.. ويبقى فقط أن يحبوننا..
.. مثلما نحبهم

جبران خليل جبران

The Trap : An Amazing documentary !!

This is another brilliant Adam Curtis documentary originally produced for the BBC. It talks about the modern political realities, where the policies came from and the massive failures of those ideals and how they have ended up exactly where they did not want to be. This episode starts in the Cold War and shows the seeds that were sown to produce the modern political reality.

The Secret

Today in the Mayan Calendar - The Daily tzolkin

Source: www.mayanmajix.com

Be Your Own Therapist

I like this teacher. She puts things in perspective.