The "Fafy" Class Evolution in Jordan
This post is the ridiculous labour, mental exhaustion, hallucinations and contemplation of the tiny minute details that passed us by so quickly... In short its about the rise and fall of "fafies" in Jordan... A new breed rising on the bones of others...
The amount of change that we are witnessing in Jordan is fascinating. When I was in School, I remember that if someone was saying (aal o olna) instead of (gal o golna) or (MAMA) instead of (Yummah or El-Waldeh) lol... Then the poor kid was quickly classified as a "fafy" type of person... belonging to the people who live in Shmeisani!!!
For those of you who don't know what a "Fafy" boy is... its the boy who's spoiled, rich and a classified wimp...
The bullies and the teachers would use the famous good old question, "Where are you from, Shmeisani!!" -laughing-... To indicate that a boy is spoiled belonging to a class that doesn't know how to fight with the rough guys coming from the poor side of Amman (aka hay el masarweh)...
The famous joke that was said on how Shmeisani kids used to fight with Twix and Mars (chocolate) instead of knives and sticks (ganwat ya man wa an khook)...
Today, its a totally different story, the boys who were considered the fafiest of them all are no other than the rough middle class of today, maybe the "STRUGGLING almost broke-class" is more appropriate... Shmeisani is no longer considered the filthy rich neighbourhood.... And, you don't see too many boys making fun of the "da2ee2a" accent or the "mama" and "baba" fafies (plural)... Simply because now there is so much more to make fun of...
The fafy accent is no longer a matter of Gal and Golna, it is more like a whole shift from Arabic into English & sometimes French... By the way Arabizi is already a middle class thing these days...
The fafy places are more like Abdoun and Deir Ghbar...
The new fafy terms are not MAMA & BABA anymore... they are Mamy and Daddy or first names of parents if you will, with a short cuddly name like shoshooo if the mother's name is Shaden & the meemeee if the father is Mahmoud...
All that makes you wonder, maybe the golna guys were fafi at one point in their own time... say 20 years earlier... When the really tough guys were the Bedouins in the tents...
Now that's socioeconomics in Jordan and a true evolution of the fafy class in Jordan.
So, what's the point of this post?! Not much really... It is supposed to be a ridiculous post in the first place...
But the moral is, everyone is a fafi at one point in time and that is short lived... much shorter than you think... So fafies of today, don't worry... tomorrow is another day and you will have your turn to mock others fafies at one point in time...
تعليقات
There were people saying 2al oo 2olna way before those days, and it wasn't considered "fafi"
The madani people from all over the cities of Palestine were all almost all using Aal oo olna while the country side using the Kal oo Chal. And Gal in most of Jordan.
My grandparents used to speak with "Aal and Olna", my father and mother did, and so do all of us. But there were times where I felt ashamed of it, only to realize later that there is nothing to be ashamed of. An I continue to use it till this day ... and inshallah forever! The cool, aristocratic, civil sounds of times gone by, "Aal o Olna"
If so, then I know ALOT of those. =D
Thanks for the encouragement but I'm not the person to provide help for anyone... I need help myself on all levels...
Eurorabe,
Thanks, glad you liked it...
Qwaider,
What you say is so true, but back in school it was a sign of being tough or not (people who were from Modon were usually alot more peaceful than the gal golna type)... it was merely an indication... It's absolutely nothing to be ashamed of... I was so confused cause my father is the gal golna type while my mother's side is 2al 2olna... so I ended up somewhere in between...
bi-accental if you would :)
Khalid,
I think I lost touch with the new fafy thing... I don't even know where they eat and shop... But I'm sure we all know fafies here and there...
Urduni,
This is not about anyone being a burden on anyone... rich or poor... I was just thinking how much things change in a very short time... and I thought I'd write a silly post about it... That's all...
Interesting...
Now, seriously, this thing has a much much wider angle : We don't accept any body who is different, we should all wear the same clothes, eat the same things, talk in the same way and think in the same way, otherwise, we will be casted off.
this issue needs a post by it self, but to finish, i have to say that there is also the other extreme who accepts all differences and respect them even if they are so distorted and awful that they harm basic principles of our beliefs.
Back when I lived in Ramallah. It was either 2al wu 2ulna or Kal wu kulna. When I came to Amman I got introduced to gal wu gulna.
It's like learning another language. The funny thing is my mind adapts automatically to whoever I'm speaking to, and starts speaking like them mostly because people used to the (heavy g) will often not understand the (light 2).
My colleague at work from zarga sometimes tells me when I talk to him that I sound exactly like someone from Zarga.
Another colleague gets upset by this and says I have to make up my mind and either use gulna or 2ulna.
It is a sign of where you come from, true and it is nothing to be ashamed of... but it was assigned to "fafies" because city people are usually more delicate in dealing with their daily problems... It's not a matter of all but a majority :)
It was harder to find a gal golna type of person who had a soft approach towards the daily issues we faced back in shcool...
and Hani, I can't imagine seeing you talking with the Gal
Since I'm in a software company, when the testers find a bug, they faga3 (it exploded). I never even heard the term when dealing with a bug before. So when I used fa2a3, they didn't know what I was talking about, and I had to use faga3 from now on.
LOL
Thanks for the enlightenment... sometimes it’s very confusing to the point that your tongue just changes real 2a letters… like el galeh el hasbeh :)