well sure I know this. but most computer users as I explained simply think its the only option.
yes yahoo is quite popular, we even have some arabic free webmail providers, hardly anyone has a POP account (and no one heard of IMAP) since everyone is using pay per minute dialup.
ICQ is very popular since it was the first IM in the market, followed by Yahoo IM, I don't think AIM is very popular.
as for PDA's no they're not, in fact its not easy buying a PDA here, when I first got mine people asked me if this was a simputer:-)
but smart phones are getting quite popular, Egyptians are crazy about mobile phones.
well the thing is Egyptians feel threatened by Israel only, and most find it unlikely that American money won't help much against Israel.
note I'm not saying any of these things are facts, thats what I feel is the general opinion.
basicaly there is little transparency about the whole thing and your average egyptian has no access to information about how the military budget is spent.
I'm thinking of writing a slashdotters guide to egypt, based on the misconceptions and question in these articles.
so if you want you can send me any questions you have about egypt and any stereotype you know of.
oh and BTW did you know that egyptians believe Dodi was killed in a conspiracy to prevent the birth of a Muslim heir to the British crown (conspiracy theories are popular here).
and yes stolen archaeological artifacts is a big problem.
ahem sorry to spoil your joke but adultry is not a crime in Egypt.
and not very uncommon either.
but I must warn you if you're caught with a married woman in her marital bed her and you where stupid enough to be caught by her husband he actualy has the right to kill you.
on the other hand females need not worry, wifes are not allowed to kill unfaithful husbands even if they caught them on the marital bed.
parts of it are debt and parts are actualy mentioned in the Camp David accord.
the general belief here in Egypt is that this money is not used for anything useful, if not for things harmful.
so here is the deal, if anyone in the state wants to start some petition to stop sending us the 2 billion dollars I promise to get 1000 egyptians to sign it.
my intention was not to make fun of anyone, and I did not mean the questions where stupid.
I appologise if I offended anyone, it was meant in jest,
the part about the question being meaningless is realy how I saw the question and the only answer I could give, the question is based on a false assumption and I explained above why this assumption is false. what was I to do, ignore the question completly?
I'm sure this has been explained before, but here goes.
Arabic has some letters/sounds with no equivalent in english (or any latin script), as a solution some Arabs transliterate these letters with similar looking numerals.
SMS made this method of writing very popular so its not a l33t speak thing at all.
Slashdot Mirror
the american stereotype egyptians hold will be derived from hollywood movies and soap operas (both very popular here).
but since egyptians work all over the planet, and since we do get a fair number of tourists the stereotypes are usualy more subtle.
well sure I know this.
:-)
but most computer users as I explained simply think its the only option.
yes yahoo is quite popular, we even have some arabic free webmail providers, hardly anyone has a POP account (and no one heard of IMAP) since everyone is using pay per minute dialup.
ICQ is very popular since it was the first IM in the market, followed by Yahoo IM, I don't think AIM is very popular.
as for PDA's no they're not, in fact its not easy buying a PDA here, when I first got mine people asked me if this was a simputer
but smart phones are getting quite popular, Egyptians are crazy about mobile phones.
well the thing is Egyptians feel threatened by Israel only, and most find it unlikely that American money won't help much against Israel.
note I'm not saying any of these things are facts, thats what I feel is the general opinion.
basicaly there is little transparency about the whole thing and your average egyptian has no access to information about how the military budget is spent.
noooooh
man what did I put myself in, it means you who ignores obvious facts.
I'm thinking of writing a slashdotters guide to egypt, based on the misconceptions and question in these articles.
so if you want you can send me any questions you have about egypt and any stereotype you know of.
oh and BTW did you know that egyptians believe Dodi was killed in a conspiracy to prevent the birth of a Muslim heir to the British crown (conspiracy theories are popular here).
and yes stolen archaeological artifacts is a big problem.
my 150$ figure (yes thats american dollars) is assuming some used parts (basicaly the monitor).
and no brand names in anything but the processor.
we're talking a very low quality system here, but its quite common.
none of this is manufactured in Egypt,its all imported from eastern asian nations.
ahem sorry to spoil your joke but adultry is not a crime in Egypt.
and not very uncommon either.
but I must warn you if you're caught with a married woman in her marital bed her and you where stupid enough to be caught by her husband he actualy has the right to kill you.
on the other hand females need not worry, wifes are not allowed to kill unfaithful husbands even if they caught them on the marital bed.
resentment against the company.
not the products.
and nothing says it has to make sense, I've always felt Egypt was a singularity.
its 2 billion a year not 1.5
1.5 of them go to the military.
parts of it are debt and parts are actualy mentioned in the Camp David accord.
the general belief here in Egypt is that this money is not used for anything useful, if not for things harmful.
so here is the deal, if anyone in the state wants to start some petition to stop sending us the 2 billion dollars I promise to get 1000 egyptians to sign it.
ok maybe it was a mistake to use an arabic word to answer that.
ya moftary is always used in jest, it is a term used between friends to gently inform that someone is totally off base.
terribly sorry
my intention was not to make fun of anyone, and I did not mean the questions where stupid.
I appologise if I offended anyone, it was meant in jest,
the part about the question being meaningless is realy how I saw the question and the only answer I could give, the question is based on a false assumption and I explained above why this assumption is false.
what was I to do, ignore the question completly?
just a clarification.
air conditioners have been available in the egyptian market for ages.
but only lately that they started to be affordable and thus popular.
I'm sure this has been explained before, but here goes.
Arabic has some letters/sounds with no equivalent in english (or any latin script), as a solution some Arabs transliterate these letters with similar looking numerals.
SMS made this method of writing very popular so its not a l33t speak thing at all.
oh well and if I stuck to he I'd be accused of masochism or something.
this is a feature not a bug.
just for the record I don't hate jews at all, or followers of any other faith.
if it would make you any happier I respect many jewish personalities and have a few jewish friends (not from egypt since they're rather rare here).
being against the state of israel or its policies does not equate to hating jews, or even hating israelis for that matter.
I'm also against the government of egypt and its policies, does this mean I hate egyptians??