How to Hit on Arab Girls; Guide Points by a White Man

Claudine Farah

How to land yourself a slap on the face… or, hopefully, in a jail cell.

Follow the “tutorial” of “Saxquiz” on YouTube. He’s an American who is proud of being a student of the Arabic language and here’s what he’s using it for:

“Here are a few phrases you can use to hit on Arab girls. Use with caution :). I don’t know if I made it clear enough in the video, but these are phrases used in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine. All Arabs will understand you, but they are specifically for that Levantine region.”

He also has a Blog to specifically teach you “How to Hit on Arab Girls.” Not just any girls, mind you, because American girls aren’t edible and telling them “You’re delicious” is “inappropriate.” But Arab girls, not only are they edible, they’re so delicious you can even eat them without salt! And, he even mispronounces it!

Someone should have told this guy that we, the women in these exotic lands where people still ride on camel backs to move about, consider ‘toltish’ as harassment. Aren’t Americans fined and/or jailed for that in their country?

I don’t know about the other Arab countries, but it saddens me to note that here in Lebanon, ‘toltish’ still goes unpunished by our law, heck, sometimes even police officers try to hit on girls. But so far, I’ve never seen a successful love story born out of this kind of, um, “courtship.” Many guys hit on girls just for the fun of it, as one of their many messed up ways to prove their manhood. Rarely does a guy hit on a girl if he were alone. It’s a way to show off, regardless of whether he’s attracted to the girl in question or not or whether he’d like to build some kind of relationship with her or not.

In this video, however, this guy thinks it’s a sure way to win an Arab girl’s heart. No, son, if it doesn’t work on an American girl, it sure as hell won’t work on an Arab one, not a sane, self-respectful one anyway.

This is insulting on so many levels: not only is this guy objectifying women in general, he’s specifically teaching the American white male how to hunt the female of the “Levantine” species in their native language. It’s the epitome of racism, sexism and other –isms and he’s proud of it!

So here’s the problem; ‘toltish’ is an inappropriate, unacceptable behavior on our Lebanese streets and it should be punishable by law and eradicated. But this guy is claiming it’s a good way to meet Arab girls and get positive results. He’s propagating the idea that it’s OK to talk that way to an Arab girl and he’s very sure that he has a good grasp of our culture!

As for the “lesson” itself, let’s see, apart from the outrageous rhyming expressions such as “helo jismik shou ismik?” and “shu hal jasad ya asad,” I hated how he turned a positive Arabic expression into something so vile: “Laban el 3osfur” is something I heard a mother say to her child or lovers (in a real relationship) to one another. It’s ridiculous of him to strip such an expression of its powerful meaning (doing the impossible to someone you deeply care about) in order to say it to a passing stranger.

All I can hope for is that nobody in their right mind would go for that crap. Unfortunately, reading the YouTube comments, it seems that many are impressed by the guy’s ability to speak Arabic and, thus, assume he has great “knowledge” about this strange world