I ended my last two blog sessions with "Cheers!"?! How fake is THAT?! Ugh..keep this up and I'm certified plastic. Gotta cut down the hang time with my Aussie batchmate, Mikey. He's too Mat Salleh for my own verbal good. Sheesh...already we (as in, all my batchmates) have caught on with "Yallah!" which means "Hurry up!" which the Arabs (and all Emirates crew) use liberally, if not rudely, to one another.And "Khalas!" which means "Finish!", also used not-so-nicely, often accompanied by speaker's hands gesturing wildly. I mean, they teach us nice polite words during our Arabic language lessons yet what do we use? Here's a tip. Following is an excerpt of a string of commands given to me during my one of my first flights, by a non-Arabic SFS:-

"Raihan!C'mon! YALLAH! You too slow with the bar service! Smile,ask,take, open,pour,mix,give!Khalas!"

See?

Ouch.I wasn't slow! Just not used to the liqour bottles. They all look the same, somehow.And I'm sure they all taste the same, especially after you've had a few too many. Bloody SFS. Khalas...khalas...khalas konon....I'd half a mind to khalas him!

Yet,despite the displeasure of having the words used on me,I got used to them after awhile. Got used to them and even used them. They can be used sans the offence. I mean, seriously, they're not at all vulgar language. Yet, any word with the right person and the wrong mouth at the right time to the wronged me,I could pound you. Khalas.

There it goes again. Gotta stop this madness.