Hamas and hamas
(wait before you banish me to the i/P group... please)
I read the story in the Chicago Tribune a few days ago but cannot find it online, so here is a summary of what I remember.
The story was written by a woman who is teaching English to Arabic speaking young students.
At some point, not during class, they were talking among themselves, laughing, happy, the way teens do and she heard the word hamas being mentioned several times.
Why would they be talking about the Palestinian conflict, she wondered.
Well, in contrast to Hamas - which is an acronym describing the group the governs Gaza - the word hamas means excitement, enthusiasm, similar to our "cool" she wrote.
Thus, they were telling about their expectations and responses from colleges of their choice and the others would cheer hamas!
The conclusion, I think, was to be careful in drawing conclusions when we hear Arabic when we cannot follow..
