Aradaw
December 16, 2008 at 11:36 am 37 comments
Couldn’t resist posting this piece when I came across it on Addis Neger.com.
Oh yeah, our golden boys have come online! Not sure why they have to come in English or the website has to take not less than a quarter of an hour to open. But that doesn’t make their coming less exciting.
And the Psalmist says:
Des Yibelen
Des Yibelen
Enzemir BeLilta..
MecheGerachinin aytew…
Entry filed under: Latest Posts.
My e-Shoe Box 
1.
Girum | December 16, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Looooooooool, ha ha!! I heard one word for the first time= ‘LiKerKat’.
I knooow ‘ KeRek argiw’ is like ‘kifechiw’. But here ‘ LiKerKat’ must be ‘ Fuaaa Laregat’…Lol it is Awesome anyhow!!
2.
abesheet | December 16, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Lol, Girume. Thank you for parting your “YeArada Quanqua EwQet” yaLemeseset :). I actually gave my Mini-bus driver cousin Sileshi to ask him what “MeKereK” means earlier. He said it was new to him too, but he thinks “Kerk” has the equivalent meaning of sleeping in a ditch. Maybe he was thinking another word.
3.
alem | December 16, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Abesheet, I loved it! even though I need to read the amharic version like the judge:) thanks .
BTW this is my first time to comment here. I should also say I enjoy your blog and read it everyday.. I love your thoughts .. your style of writing. good work. keep it up. you and Aref are my windows to my far way home.
4.
Abush | December 16, 2008 at 8:04 pm
OMG hahahaha! my bet this is the funniest and entertaining piece ever posted on your blog abesheet hahaha….can’t stop myself laughing like hell after reading the judge’s order on the last phrase. Ay yAddis Ababa arada be’arada fird bet! I myself use to communicate with these Addis Ababagna slangs with friends…especially when my friends use to call me at home.I remember on one good Saturday morning back then when we use to do nasty stuffs with my friends. One of my guy called me on the phone at home and said~
my friend: -endet newe abaw berchaw tejemirual eko kech bey inji?
I on the other end of the phone replied.
‘Ay beka eyeketefachuh tebiqugn ahun emetalehu’
My Mom who was sittin in the ‘engida bet’ couch heard what I said and asked…
Mom:- ‘Demo bilachu bilachu wet teseru jemere yemin tegab newe ebet migib eyale? ‘ hahaha… Ay mother! she didn’t understood what we were gonna do… but the trick worked right… it served the purpose though. But this guy must be a psycho if he really had used it inside the court room ! Anyways arif tezita newe… Thanks Abesheet
5.
abiyetk | December 17, 2008 at 4:46 am
Abesheet:
I really, really enjoy your blog. Since what was once a burgeoning Ethiopian blogosphere almost perished, you have perhaps been the only notable flag bearer of the We Media in Ethiopia.
Just so you know; the website addisneger.com isn’t published by addis neger newspaper. We will go online next month, and yes, it will be in both languages.
Abiye
6.
abesheet | December 17, 2008 at 5:47 am
Lol, Abush. I grew up around “Qimbibit”, still.. the nearer I got to speaking in slang is “YeWeff Quanqua”. My mother, her sisters and/or friends used to speak in it when they didn’t want us to hear what they were saying. “Ezusuzu ezkozo azyiz fezlezi gazatizi mizi”, etcetra. So we sat around, took the ‘z’s out and read it for what it was. Didn’t sound as interesting. Made us feel pretty smart though 🙂 .
Thank you Alem and Abiy for your comments. Hope we will do even better to keep you satisfied (and visiting ;)). Yeah, I was wondering “how long are they going to keep translate-publishing every article in English?”. Glad to know it wasn’t Mesfin’s boys. Who are they though, do you know?
7.
Mazzi | December 17, 2008 at 6:55 am
What a funny post Abesheet!
Woy Guud!
Enkwan yezare arada Amarigna yiqirina, dehinwim Amarigna balTefagn. Amarigna tsihuf weyim mets’haf hul gizze endelibe silemalaneb, dirom yemawqew arada amarigna eyeTefagn new enkwan addis limar. I feel like such a Fara!
But I do have such fond memories of “yewef Quanqua.” Ah…fun times…..
Cheers.
8.
Inem | December 17, 2008 at 11:37 am
This post showed me that I will soon become the fara I dreaded to be called during my youth. Though some of the words and expressions seem familiar still some words were a novelty to me. Growing up in Aratkilo area I was the sucker for arada slang, even coined some myself. We used it adequately to disguise our deeds from our folks and elder bros and sis. In those days it was a feat to try these terms on the ultimate aradas of mercato and American gibi, trying to hustle the hustlers and get hustled. Those guys spoke the most indecipherable slang of all addis I know. The slang however was never to be tried on ye qimbibit lijoch (the one near kokebe tsebah). They were the most feard bunch, besides the qera batch. Anget defto neber yemitalefew bezia sefer, I lost a new shera Chama and a few heads of beqolo to those bullies on the way to have a picnic in one of the yeka washas. Abesheet, if you are from the area I mentioned, you must be the only exception to come out of the arada/”duriye”sefer with a tongue untainted with extensive slang vocabulary. Nice post….
9.
abesheet | December 17, 2008 at 11:59 am
I’m afraid there are a whole lot of us out here from that part of Addis, Inem (which makes us te’ba, far’ta, geGema, genGebet and all those names given to all sefers beyond Qebena indiscrimantly. Emye Menelik mechem nefsachew aymarim). There is sistu, there is Tsgeaye, yours truly and a bunch of others who “maasemat” their woes at the loss of Sholan Geremew last time i made a post on it. So.. fear not, my brother, for you are not alone. Anytime you decided to stand up and say “My name is Inem. And I am a fara” you’ll be welcome into the club with open arms.
Btw, were you still in addis when the “mama” infront of British Embassy was christined “I love you Hotel”? I can never forgive myself for not having taken a photo of it coz it has so much to say of the generation that hosted it.
10.
Inem | December 17, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Indeed I accept my faranet with grace, adding for consolation aradanet no more ayamribiNim. I am afraid it has been a while since I left Addis and I don’t remember the rechristening of mama. Never went beyond YMCA and shi semaniya on the few occasions I visited Addis, except ofcourse MIchaelin lemanges on Timqet. I do remember well the sholan geremew building though, it was indeed a landmark for that area for a long time. Apart from the missing of the before picture your post was a wonderful tribute to the bicheNaw foq and the memories it hold for the residents of the area and for those of us who frequented shola for zemed Tiyeqa and the adventures spoiled by qimbibitoch.
11.
sistum | December 17, 2008 at 3:11 pm
nice post. but iniredada injee..like girum, i hope more people step up and interpret.
glaaaaad to see yeQebena lijoch getting the respect they deserve… and no, abesheet and inem, don’t try to approximate arat killo and shola to qenbena. ain’t nothing funnier than yarat kilo and yeshola lijoch doing their ‘tega-tega’ to yeQebena lijoch so pls izaaaaw… but you know zero sidist (cuba sefer) would put even qebena/kera to shame when it comes to it. there is a reason the resa bet was built there. you need to hail from taxi maygebabet sefer to truly be a person of the streets, and thats zero sidist. thats where nefsachew iskeetefa yezenetu ‘cheekoch’ hit the road in their speel chama because even contrat taxi wouldn’t venture into yezero sidist menged… where, after the unofficial se’at ilafee, you could get murdered for a slice of shenkora (adelem bekolo. Inem, i’m sorry about your shera chama but where i’m from we just don’t like the sight of others sporting a bekolo, shenkora jelati welete)
i didn’t get a chance to comment on ‘i love u’ hotel, Abesheet, but i wasn’t intimately acquainted with it. you know i hail from the ‘inigedadel’ side of our shared quarters (if we insist on sharing them ;)) and, Inem, no matter how refined the exterior becomes one’s interior will always have its roots where the real roots were, right? biye tefelasefku
12.
Inem | December 17, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Qebenit, min larg blesh new when sweet memories of learning to swim in the famous sew-belE a few hundred meters from yeqebena bret-dildiy are evoked, despite the ikek and spank I got afterwards. eNam iziaw beTebelesh inbel inde?
Ayeeee, the gugsa donsa was replaced by a new one the next day by my grumpling mother. What was hurting was the pride and spoiled picnic where we wanted to pretend to have an adventure just like in one of the movies we saw at cinema ethiopia/empire/ras or adisketema. The beqolo stashed in the jeberna along with dried ye hareg q’rinChaf/gind (our cigar) was there to authenticate the expedition. It was a memorable adventure, after we found a safer route to those caves where we carved our names plus the aynukas inside unsymetrical eliptic circles.
I guess cuba sefer along side korea sefer, tolosa sefer, ferensay, Eri bekentu, qinbibit, qera and many others was a site of terror for the baytewar. what a truly ” western” fun would it be if the goliaths of these notorious seferoch meet in texas shaibet to brawl . Anyways it was the gizit, tsebel, metaser, koso berberE metaTen and electrocution yemaynekachew bullies who made these surroundings notorious the true aradas maletem godana bruh aymero yelegesachew were the ever elusive behind the scene Tebiboch.
By the way sistum wederyelesh felasma yemiweTash yimesleNal, bring it on. Its hard to believe there is a turjuman seeking ye qebena lij. atfen’chin.
13.
sistu | December 22, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Inem,
the words you produce are quickly becoming my favorites. btw was your cigar hareg resa weyis sensel or neither? I couldn’t be sure but I’m very curious about it. And I didn’t know Ferensay enjoyed the kind of ale-meebal, acknowledgeable notoriety that you mentioned, unless you are attempting to megenTel abo sefer from Bella and reward it to ferensay. Are you? Nor did I know that berbere-metaTen was something guys got to enjoy too; always thought it a thing reserved for us girls. Thank you for sharing that welcome news. And yes, yikir belegn, I agree that my demands for a turjuman make me something of a disgrace to my Qebena roots. I guess I am trying to introduce some sort of yeBole lij flavor to Qebena? Well, in the spirit of redemption, maybe I can’t really claim to be from the heartland of Qebena. Let me masfafat my roots towards ginfle. Btw, I am in the midst of a massive tininik, trying to swallow the notion of yarat kilo sew pinpointing the roots of his/her ikek to qebena wenz.
14.
Inem | December 22, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Wui Sistu, Abo sefer belongs to Bella indE? I guess inde MT “aspro/vainac” ke hospitalu daget wedih all is ferensay for me. I will let you decide which keysis of Adogenet are able to perform, as Gashe said, ” yets’dqen megbia tiriyit”. I don’t know if torture has gender. ketorchim torch alew inde? By the way, if it is only berberE is it like quqim kefes teqoTerech aynet?
The sensel xylem/phloems do not make uniform tubes across the stalk, aTir gidgida tako yemiweTawen hareg maletE new, that was our toscano.
The wenz that flows under the eribekentu dildiy is shallow and very polluted (be ikek angelagelim neber), bulbula is off limits and unpredicatable and don’t forget the qebena/shola connection through kazinochachin and most of all adventure is more exciting when far from home . Shall I also masfafat my roots to abuare and ask yebet quTir, or sholeklek eyalku bret dildiy liwred?
15.
sistu | December 24, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Inem — thought you may have been revealing something about why our mothers thought yetekekele hareg was a good idea when they were feeling down. and there was a time in my life when I felt like a genius for knowing how to pronounce xylem/phloem in science class. the feeling hasn’t survived the test of time but thanks for the memory of it anyways. and MT malet..? pray do tell. The book Middlesex, hadn’t read it but just went to wiki to look it up. will read it if you think i have the stomach for some of the topics it promises to discuss. Are the details stomach-able? they promise not to be, i am an easy target for nightmares induced by yefetera-siras.
p.s. yes, Abo sefer, with its antutan yetegonatsefu yabuye tabot, belongs to Bella yene lij. Beselam ininuribet, the country can’t take another border war
16.
Inem | December 25, 2008 at 9:06 am
MT is a writer who used to write my favorite articles on seleda. Middlesex is very readable as for the nightmares you could always dug up the kitab which ensured your survival in zero sidist or just put a bilawa under your tiras. Somehow I got a feeling that you ladies might like Eugenidis.
17.
sistu | December 25, 2008 at 9:45 am
Inem, thats who I was hoping you meant! MT is also my absolute favorite one. He must be the voice of all who share that background, so brilliant I could go on praising. [he was the one who pointed out yabon antuta to me and I was duly impressed by his perceptiveness… among many many other things]. yeKitabu neger, enenjalign might be in need of a debtera (do you know one around here?) touch for renewal or something, its not operating as it should but maybe will try the bilawa (pe mikir). Might try Middlesex beka, yenate silk mekenet kaladenakefegn.
18.
Inem | December 25, 2008 at 11:48 am
Sistu thats my mikir, always indewerede. Inde minew did you think yesew ayn ferenj ager ayseram when you threw away your kitab? The debeteras I know are banished for heresy when the new abun took the zufan. Sorry no help from here, the kitab I wear is too hard to forge in yeferenj ager (the complexity of my kiristina sim doesn’t help either), you need a typically abesha potato to pick the seal. Here comes another mkir: beware of the debteras, if I were you I will send iTirTir yelebesech bale dinbil to plead on my behalf. YemaybeTsut qiTel yelem to put a spell on ladies like you who are endowed with kezer yewerede beauty. I mentioned MT because I thought you cited him in one of your comments. He is absolutely fantastic, I was really sad when seleda stopped coming out because of him. Thats one dude who could put the arada/fara life in perspective.
19.
sistu | December 25, 2008 at 1:04 pm
meesema beenorima, i am always citing him. Inkulilich lemalet sayhon just as a matter of timeline, I arrived here long after [regular] Seleda was put to rest so i didn’t experience the agony of its end. but used to read MT’s parts while in Addis. and exactly, he most definitely would have known how to articulate the A/F issue. maybe he already did in one of his articles (with ato melkamu and all his unnecessary reference to old age). i think that is one huge aseteyayet you gave there…ever since i removed my kitab kelibsoche gar alhed iyalegn, things have been going awry. but iTirTir zendiro tewedual, who would volunteer to wear such yeqit libs to awakee bet on my behalf?
btw, I think Kobele is yewend koreda, but we will wait for the official word from Abesheet.
20.
Inem | December 25, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Sistu, I thought Gub’l is yewend koreda, remember gubiliye a la Munaye and Kuku? I am sure many others have also played it but these are the ones in my collection, somewhere keginbarE jerba can’t give you the exact coordinate.
I do remember the defining article as the seleda editors called it. I still read my seleda favorites, wiechew gud, qiqiqiqi, hmmm, ajeb ajeb malet siyamreN. Sebeb atabzhi, durom har yemiTelfew indezih new, bakish yeginfile/abuare boutiques carry the generic iTirTir. By the way what do you think of kitab as an ornament?
21.
abesheet | December 26, 2008 at 5:54 am
For some weird reason, I’ve never been able to finish reading a post on Seleda [although I was as big a fan of it as the next person; always recommending and linking to it, wishing i could someday write like that, etcetera; must have been my idea of “teGa teGa maLet.. weDe mihuranu”). If i were to be honest, though, I’d say I find most of the posts to be annoying. Not bad. Not boring. Just annoying. The kind of annoyance you get when you hear a little girl using the language of an adult. I’ve finally concluded, this is either jealousy or misunderstanding that comes from never having lived the life most of the posts talk about (an Ethiopian’s life abroad). Not being the target audience, atleast. Would that be a fair analysis? Or should I dig a little deeper? 🙂
22.
sistu | December 26, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Abesheet, i think i feel you there. I have a hard time reading the parts not written by either MT or the ‘humble’ editors or the Mail. my reason, i think, is ‘complex’ to be honest… and not crazy about the exclusive tone they have about the whole ethiopian professionals thing either. but like i said, its my own complex so i hope Inem comes to their defense. but MTiyen inenja, batnekeebign des saylegn aykerim 😉 btw, i had a comment on your new post that i was going to write it here but decided to behave myself and write it under yemimeleketew post (yichebchebiligne)
Inem, I think i do think of kitab as an ornament, lezawim the organic kind which means it doesn’t really go with ‘generic’ iTirTirs. besides us pseudo-bole lijoch (thx Mazzi) and our WiqabEs like our clothes custom made (says someone). So, like you would say, you and your Abuare boutiques with their generic clothes beTsebelachu.
23.
Mazzi | December 26, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Seleda by the way, is a mixed bag for me, and always has been. But I liked reading it more often than not, maybe also because I was familiar with some of the usual suspects on Seleda crowd and few of the editors. Professional young Abeshas be-America, most of them are, the kind our Bunna Bett friend would be very proud of :-)!
Though they have been accused of having an ‘exclusive tone’ (as Sistu put it) for only certain kinds of Ethiopians in America, the ones I know about are actually a fun bunch! Maybe also knowing some of their personalities that comes across in their writing makes it easier for me to like their posts or their style of managing the site.
But I do remember one friend who was annoyed about Seleda telling me how he feels he needs to have his dictionary on stand by before he even opens any post on the site :-). It is true some article contributors come across as show offs, and often, the mixing of some arada Amarigna with English used to throw me off more than it used to please me.
With all these, however, I enjoyed reading some of the posts and sometimes wished I could write as well as some of the contributors. Putting the site together with endless deadlines (almost like a second non-paying job) was proving to be really stressful for the site owners in addition to leading their own expanding personal lives, so I think that is why the site kind of faded away. Since then, blogs, chat groups, and endless personal websites have sprouted all over the ‘Ethiopian’ cyber space (though not as extensive as it could be) so I guess Seleda does not have a monopoly. But it was a very interesting ride, and occasionally I still check some of the posts as I did not read them consistently before.
It sounds like Inem is a big fan of the site. He put it beautifully when he said, “I still read my seleda favorites, wiechew gud, qiqiqiqi, hmmm, ajeb ajeb malet siyamreN.” Some posts do crack me up though, and one of my favorite posts by MT by the way is (http://www.seleda.com/apr02/ayinjera.shtml). What a sense of humor the guy has! Inem, is this the defining article the editors were talking about? Just curious. Very funny.
Abesheet: It is true that most posts on Seleda talk about the experiences of Ethiopians abroad, so in that sense I wonder how the site comes across when read by someone from Ethiopia. You are very well read, and up to date about a lot of things, so though you may have felt a bit disconnect, I bet you could appreciate it better than someone with less exposure. But I laughed when you said how the site annoys you. I can see why, as I feel the same way sometimes about some of the posts. But thank God for some treasured entries that make the other annoying posts bearable. But I am glad Seleda existed when it did :-).
24.
Inem | December 26, 2008 at 11:13 pm
The humble editors, who according to the mail, are only humbled by what makes sense, have humbled me to gefa madreg my complexes aside. I guess the few “not up to par seledesque articles” that passed their editorial seyif show that indeed yeinat hod is zhingurgur. I loved MT because he speaks in the tongue that is very comprehensible to me. In fact I want to mezeker these guys who are beautifully crafting the ideas and thoughts I have and know about and more. Tsegur bemiyasneCh menfesawi qinat mengebgeb bicha, min tadergiwalesh blo yele. There are many stories on seleda that are neither diaspora/lamEbora/Elfora/mendefera…whatever…targeting but typically ethiop/afric or beqelalu yewenzachin yeqeyEachin…Fasil Yitbarek, Berhanu Yalew yihun, Yetnayet, Felleke…are but some of the writers that have impressed me to the core and left memorable pieces on seleda. The inka selantia of some of the life diarists was algol fetash…oof I can’t praise seleda enough andandE slalTamuNm neber yemewedachew…do I make sense?
Sistu, Am I sensing a certain ke zero sidist wede asrasimint (18/18) mensheratet by way of har TelefeN, ready made tegonatsafi wuqabi mekadem or is this true lies or a revelation?
25.
Inem | December 26, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Irimat: algol angol teblo yinebeb.
Mazzi, I am sure f you put your mnd to it you could have poted a piece there if not what you wrote above could have appeared in the seleda mail. I don’t personally know the editors like you if I had I would have called them when I mezeker seleda on pagumE sebat.
26.
Inem | December 26, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Mazzi here is the defining article
http://www.seleda.com/mar01/awassa_langano.shtml
27.
Mazzi | December 27, 2008 at 12:44 am
Inem: You truly seem to be a die hard fan of Seleda. You must have read just about every issue out there to develop multiple favorites among the writers and contributors! And the enka selantiya that came across in the editor’s management style and writing is pretty much how they interacted with one another actually. They really must have enjoyed their interaction though managing the site was truly a lot of work! Their site was truly a pioneer in its day as there was nothing like it on the Internet at the time.
I was not as moTmwaTa online as I think I am becoming now (lol), so I guess I was not as inspired then to contribute articles as much as I enjoyed reading and checking out the site. The one time I was invited to be a life diarist on a very interesting topic, I agreed to do it. However, the LD partner I was paired with bailed out on me, Seleda editors, and the project all together at the last minute so we could not do it on time for publication. From my brief e-mail exchange with the LD partner, however, I sensed he was a bit of a square and probably would not have been fun to exchange ideas with him. So in the end I was not disappointed actually. One editor disappointed with the guy bailing out at the last minute said it was a serious mismatch. They knew him, but I knew very little about him so I could not say. But that was my only attempt to contribute to Seleda, and I still find some hidden treasures on the site when I venture there once in a while.
Thank you for forwarding the link to MT’s ‘defining article’…. I look forward to reading it if I have not read it already. It looks like you truly would have enjoyed knowing the Seleda editors in person if you are willing to go as far as mezekering them on pagumE sebat. If any of them are reading this, they should be proud they have a die hard fan :-).
28.
sistu | December 27, 2008 at 3:15 am
Mazzi!!! no way, i never thought i would live to know (well, sorta, i guess) someone who knows Seleda people. at best i thought there would be a whole lot of someone who knows someone who then knows someone who then knows someone before any link between seleda editors and myself was ever established. I know Inem has made a convincing case about being their biggest fan so I won’t mekenaken him for the spot but i am just a huge fan of the editors. Look at the relaxed manner you are talking about them. they are practically celebrities to me. paris hilton man natina. please Mazzi, liteyikish a favor? if you still get in touch with them would you let them know that there is someone out there who does a little keWenberua bidig malet bakbirot whenever she types their names? won’t you do that for me? they truly are more than just an online magazine to me. I might now become something of a celebrity myself once i start sharing this info with the ppl around me, who are also fans. by the way i loved MT in addis as much as I love him now because even from there one can relate to what he writes, brilliant that he is. If you knew him Mazzi… min indemaregish I don’t know. and the first piece by him that I read was actually written about my sefer (see how much i love that place…updated below), which brings me to….
Inem, bemin iniwerared that you can figure out which piece i am talking about? you are right, i am moonwalking my way over to asira simint. and lemme just say i can’t seem to spot an intifitafe of a fara in your neqE being. and, btw, didn’t I say we need to meteshashet with yene Mazzi sefertegnoch to make headways in society? (ok, i didn’t but i should have or maybe you gave me the idea on an earlier post?) Just imagine, we could have gone on iyetedenakorin about the people behind the Board hadn’t Mazzi shed some light on the matter. update: talk about being born in the wrong part of town. hod basegn
29.
Mazzi | December 27, 2008 at 5:26 am
Selam Sistu,
I did not know you too were a die-hard fan of Seleda and its editors.
It is true at the height of Seleda days before they stopped publishing new issues, the editors were definitely small celebrities among people who were loyal readers and ultimate fans. All the editors and some of their usual contributors were all ruling that joint incognito so hardly anyone knew them! They liked it that way. There was a lot of mystique about them, which made the whole experience fun. I knew few of the people either by sheer coincidence, through other people, and a bit of shared history from Addis days. I am not really an insider at all, but definitely a fan of their management style because I respected their dedication to their online magazine.
Hate it or not, Seleda was/is an online magazine unlike any other. Thank God for the Internet, even new converts can go back and read back issues. And the rest of us can re-visit favorite articles and find new things in them as time passes by.
That was a while ago, however, and so much has happened since then. My life right now feels light years away from those days for more reasons than I can count. But I do know one remaining person in the inner crowd, so I shall definitely pass your message at least to him, and I will ask him to then pass your message to the rest of the crew when ever he talks to them himself. Sadly, however, I do not know MT personally, though I am a big fan of his humorous posts. What a mind that guy has, and I think I do remember the first entry he wrote about your Sefer :-). It must have been a pleasure to read it while you were at home.
@Inem:
MT’s ‘definitive article’ (about who and what Fara is) was hilarious! I had read it before, but it was a pleasure to read it again after few years with a bit of new perspective on the matter. What a joy that was! Melkamu Tebeje’s ‘Awassa Langano’ song shall forever have a different meaning in my mind from here on :-).
God bless people with unique sense of humor and the writing skill to boot. So thanks again for forwarding the link to that article.
30.
Inem | December 27, 2008 at 5:09 pm
InEn hod yibaseN sistuye, what I do in those moments is humming iyodinotti thereby transferring myself from bale sost anbessa shaibet to the mini. As for the gugsa donsa and cipolini meteshashet, for me that only happened on the ground between my qeyE and bolE.
Mazzi, please mention my name together with sistu and bring them or their representative on Pagume silassie for the dirib zikir I do for yeseferE tabot and the humble editors. I hope abesheet will allow the premises of her Tejbet for the occasion. amen biyalehu for your final sentence.
31.
abesheet | December 29, 2008 at 5:49 am
Read the link. And loved it. Couldn’t believe there existed such kind of sense of humor in 2001. MT sounds like a girl, though. I can’t help but feel it’s only a girl who could pay attention to such details and present them with the ease that article seems to be written with. Kind of like that girl who run “Weichegud Ethiopian Politics” is said to do. Do you guys have anything definite on MT being a guy, or is just a feeling?
Btw, the only Melkamu Tebeje song i love and loved is “Cheb Cheb Argulat”. “Dahlak” has always created a mixed feeling in me. But my ex was crazy about him for a reason i always failed to understand (he was crazy about lead/lid guitar?, saxphone and all those instruments I felt were more disturbing than harmonious). It actually embarassed him, talking about Melakmu’s songs. Which makes sense now, him being a Sengatera Lij and all 🙂 .
Hmm.. some of us didn’t even knew such schools existed when we ‘eyewedeQen sininesa’ while ‘sem meQebating/BeBernos masheting’ yeGash Alemayehun Saloon (mata tv endingeba endifeqdulin) with it [or wohuuwohuuwohuu yayhee] playing in the background. The fact that Mimi Alemayehu would look despisinging down at us from where she sat, lenBochwan tila, on the sofa if allowed never darkened the horizon.
Ofcourse guys. Anytime. As a spanish blogger would say to his tej or Tiqilla denbegnoch: Mi casa es tu casa. Only.. beqi yeSinelibona zigijit lemadreg endimechegn Qedem tebilo yinegeregn.
32.
Mazzi | December 29, 2008 at 7:49 am
Abesheet:
The link below is for one Seleda entry entitled “Seleda Family Feud” from Seleda’s “ The Family Feud Issue” from May 2002. It is apparent from this entry that MT is a guy. He does indeed pay attention to minute details that makes his writing engaging.
The entry is an interesting ‘letter feud’ between the ‘MT’ character and another contributor fellow ‘Fasil’ over a fan mail sent to Seleda editors ‘affectionately’ mentioning both MT & Fasil from a female Seleda fan. Interesting. This is why I assumed MT was a guy.
http://www.seleda.com/may02/feud.shtml
Incase you have not checked these out, I am putting more links below to my two other favorite entries by MT. I am simply jealous of this guy’s sense of humor, wonderful insights to quintessential Abesha views on certain topics, and one of a kind writing style.
http://www.seleda.com/oct01/hues.shtml (The Color and Identity Issue)
http://www.seleda.com/apr02/ayinjera.shtml (The Ethiopia Issue)
Enjoy.
33.
Inem | December 29, 2008 at 9:25 am
Abesheet, please mabraria why a detailed description is most likely penned by a woman.
Mazzi, did you think MT could be a guy before the feud? why?
As for me I had no doubt in my mind that MT was a guy, ever since I read his first article, which I believe was “Gomen”. My berCa afternoons when I was in agerbEt were filled with tereb and fitella composed of that kind of humor. Some of the details, for instance, in awassa langano suggested that it came from a man who possibly had the experience, so I thought. After reading that piece, I could not for the world imagine MT to be a girl unless he/she is the tomboy or the middle sex type. Of course anyone of the Mary ArmdE sefer setoch or any observant woman for that matter, could have written the above said MT piece.
34.
Mazzi | December 29, 2008 at 10:54 am
@Inem:
I too tend to think women might be apt to be slightly more detail oriented (not exclusive to their gender mind you, just more inclined or conditioned to it maybe) than men.
I often marvel, for example, how most women could pick the most minute of details observing their surrounding and people around them compared to some men. With one glance even from afar for instance, a mother could sense and notice change in appearance in her child(ren) maybe indicating illness. Strong maternal and nesting instincts probably make women more detail oriented towards noticing/seeking details in people and their surrounding. Kind of like finding it easy to still notice A tree as well as the forest where as some men may notice the forest before any tree. I figured maybe this tendency would manifest itself in people’s writing as well. I am just speculating here….
That said, even before I knew for sure, I just assumed MT was a guy. And that is because his sense of humor is soooo similar to many of my guy arada Ethiopian friends I have met over the years both at home and on this side. Also, maybe because of my slight tomboyish tendencies or level of comfort in freely socializing with a group of guy friends, my friends tend to forget that I am a woman after all, and often unleash their guy humor in my presence. I might also add I grew up with brothers only, often seeing the world from their perspective. What a fun way to delve into the male’s psyche when they are interacting uninhibited and unconcerned that they may be judged by the woman present in their midst.
The few Seleda male usual suspects I know also have similar sense of humor, so though I do not know MT personally, I assumed they knew him and shared his views and humor delivery style. Besides, some aspects of MT’s ‘Fara/Arada definitive article’, especially the reaction of the ‘Awasa Langano’ guy while interacting with ‘Iyodinnoti’ gal in the club (or was it a home party?) and on the dance floor could only have been written by a guy :-). That scene has ‘based on personal experience’ written all over it :-).
So for those reasons, I just instinctively assumed MT was a guy, and felt validated when I read the conformation on the site.
35.
Eskinder | December 29, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Abesshet drop me your e-mail account and I will send you I love you hotel’s pic.
36.
abesheet | December 29, 2008 at 12:43 pm
This ain’t a ploy to get me cough up my e-mail address, is it Eskinder? 😉 Anywho.. abesheet@gmail.com bileh bitlik yedersegnal.
Mazzi:
Yes, MT sounds like a guy. That “fued” though, I can’t decide whether it’s “elih” or “sira matat” that caused it. Even the thought of going through it is exhausting, let alone actually reading it.
37.
Mazzi | December 31, 2008 at 5:24 am
“Sira maTat” is often a huge theme in Seleda land, and the above ‘fued’ is definitely a good example of that :-).