Angry Arab Rant

[rj_skillz]

[quote name='mushrat' timestamp='1307144048' post='511612']
wow, haven't seen this topic in a year or so. Things change, words change, meanings change. Since there is no way you can change it, might as well accept the inevitable.
[/quote]


^^ this

[method]

[quote name='Hassouni' timestamp='1307137328' post='511601']
Why why why does everyone call the tobacco "shisha?"

Shisha comes from the Persian [i]shisheh[/i] which means glass. By extension, in Turkish, as well as Iraqi Arabic, shisha/şişe refers to a bottle, or just the glass part of the whole pipe. In Egypt, North Africa, and the Gulf, shisha refers to the whole pipe, as an extension of the glass.

It makes no sense to call the tobacco shisha, it's as if you were a pipe smoker, and you went to a smoke shop asking for 50g of Virginia "pipe," or if you referred to the product in your bottle of beer as "bottle."

My only guess is that some Egyptians in the States said "smoke shisha" referring to the pipe itself, as others may say, "smoke hookah," but someone thought shisha was the substance itself, perhaps because of the similarity in sound to a certain form of NHT that rhymes with shmashish.

I'm sure no one cares, but it just sounds very very silly to me to hear tobacco called shisha.

End rant.
[/quote]


+1 , only im not an arab :-)

[Tyler]

[quote name='Hassouni' timestamp='1307218151' post='511698']
[quote name='mustafabey' timestamp='1307216891' post='511696']
Mu'assel
[/quote]


tütün works too [img]http://www.hookahforum.com/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif[/img]

[quote name='Tyler' timestamp='1307216928' post='511697']
It is simple linguistics, ever ask wonder why Arabs have no idea who Aristotle is? Or what a Saudi calls a steering wheel or a Qatari calls a U-turn? If we bitched and moaned about every linguistic difference then we'd be here a while. Just chill, load a bowl, and some some SHISHA.
[/quote]

Arabs traditionally DID know who Aristotle was, who introduced him back to Europe to spark the Renaissance? And a U-turn is still called a turn in Arabic. It'd be as if Arabs called gasoline "car," which they don't.
[/quote]


Yeah I know they know who Aristotle was, but they definately don't call him Aristotle, and a U-turn is called the same word as "elbow" in Qatar while a steering wheel is called the same word for "population" -- just making the point that every langauge uses words that doesnt always make sense and sometimes change the name altogether

[mitchard]

Shisha is easier to say than Shisha Tobacco. Duhhh.

'MERICA

[ezxen]

so to make Chris Happy i went and change my how to make shisha video to how to make shisha(hookah) tobacco

[Epoch]

Oh, Hass. Sorry for driving you crazy for all this time!

[Noodles]

I know a lot of north africans (including myself) who always knew the whole pipe as shisha and get irritated by the different terminology here. But in the end in order to communicate easily with shops and lounges we get used to it.

'seems like it's too ingrained to change.

[Hassouni]

Where you from, Noodles?

[Noodles]

[quote name='Hassouni' timestamp='1307410590' post='511937']
Where you from, Noodles?
[/quote]
morocco [img]http://www.hookahforum.com/public/style_emoticons/default/happy.gif[/img]

[ChicagoRSX]

Meh, I've just called it hookah tobacco. I'm kinda boring I guess.

[agunn1231]

Alls i can think of when i hear lets smoke mo' is the guy named moe who came to the lounge all the time. Great guy. wouldnt wanna smoke him thought hehehe

[r1v3th3ad]

[Scrappydoo]

[quote name='ezxen' timestamp='1307234300' post='511725']
[quote name='mushrat' timestamp='1307144048' post='511612']
wow, haven't seen this topic in a year or so. Things change, words change, meanings change. Since there is no way you can change it, might as well accept the inevitable.
[/quote]


[quote name='jorlyfish' timestamp='1307153364' post='511631']
Because then other people know what I'm talking about.
[/quote]
Ditto I will admit at first i thought Shisha meant the tobacco as its labeld Shisha tobaco so i thought thats what it was called. Now i know its tobacco for the shihsa
but as the above state Us hookah Culture is evolving . Every one know knows the the tobacco is not shisha but we use shisha any ways. Its just what were used too
[/quote]


I have smoked all over the middle East and have heard A LOT of people call it shisha. As in, "let's go to the shisha cafe." I'm with Jorlyfish, that's what people know it as, if I ask for Shisha I know I will get what I want, not cigarettes or pipe tobacco.

[antouwan]

i think we're reading it incorrectly.

we're assuming that the packaging is saying shisha/tobacco, as if the words are interchangeable, but in fact, shisha is being used as an adjective, describing the type of tobacco. it's exactly as if the label read "pipe tobacco" "cigarette tobacco" or "hookah tobacco." it would have been less confusing if it had been written "tobacco for shisha," but it wasn't. to hassouni's dismay.

for some reason, when a transliterated word with an ambiguous meaning gets tossed in there we get crazy.

just my 2¢

[Hassouni]

[quote name='antouwan' timestamp='1311376706' post='516937']
i think we're reading it incorrectly.

we're assuming that the packaging is saying shisha/tobacco, as if the words are interchangeable, but in fact, shisha is being used as an adjective, describing the type of tobacco. it's exactly as if the label read "pipe tobacco" "cigarette tobacco" or "hookah tobacco." it would have been less confusing if it had been written "tobacco for shisha," but it wasn't. to hassouni's dismay.

for some reason, when a transliterated word with an ambiguous meaning gets tossed in there we get crazy.

just my 2¢
[/quote]

Yes, this is my belief too. I see your 2 cents and raise you liratein

[Scrappydoo]

Yeah, but when someone gets so worked up about something like that, it's kind of fun to milk his goat!