Magic Words

My friends in Errachidia, worried for my education in the Arabic Language and my comfort on the streets of Morocco, taught me one very important phrase.

Lesehell.

I have no idea how to spell it, and very little idea what it means. I only know that if someone asks you for money on the street, you should tell them "Lesehell".

The word, like most greetings and the like in Arabic, speaks of God (in Moroccan Arabic, the first A seems to often be minimally pronounced, so perhaps the word is Allahsehel or something like that), and I imagine that it means something like, "I have no money to give you, but don't worry, Allah will take care of you."

Or something like that.

Anyway, these friends of mine tested me constantly on my use of this word, sneaking around corners and suprising me with sudden requests for money or food. They asked family and friends to beg money from me, all just to hear me say "Lesehell".

Once here in Marrakesh, back in the real world, where real beggars beg for real money, I had a chance to use the word on my own. I was a bit worried, as it is a bit strange to go around saying things when you don't really know what they mean....I mean, maybe these guys had taught me how to say something really terrible and insulting...

However, all my fears were erased with the first dirham request by a small child here in Marrakesh. He asked for a dirham, I signalled my empty pockets and pronounced the magic word. He smiled and laughed, and repeated the word, and shook my hand. I think that he was thanking me for not giving him anything.

It goes without saying that I was a bit surprised by this reaction, and resolved to "Lesehell" the hell out of anyone who asked me for money for the rest of the day and get to the bottom of the mystery.

It works like a charm...It is incredible. I have never ever before learned a word that, pronounced quietly and with care, can actually make someone smile when you have given them nothing. In some cases, I have become so endeared with the person after our shared smile that I have in fact stopped to give them something. Which I guess sort of takes away the whole point of learning the word, but whatever.

Anyway, I have studied almost no Arabic. I do not know numbers or verbs or, well, almost anything for that matter, but having learned fifteen or twenty phrases and words has totally changed my experience here. People are so appreciative and seem to find it really crazy that a little white guy can say "hello, how are you?" and "I'm fine, thanks be to God".

Which is really pretty sad, since learning what I have learned has cost me neither time nor money nor effort.

Well, I'm off to the street to head back to the hotel and "Labas" the clerk until we are both "Hamdullah"-ing like a couple of crazy fools.