11.08.2008
Insallah
I've mentioned before that Turkish people are really superstitious and believe in a lot of hoogely boogely. If you are trying to make plans with someone they will say "I will see you next week, insallah" meaning God willing. Even Hayri who is the most Americanized Turkish person I have met informed me that he is going to see his sister next weekend, insallah. He said he is "99 percent sure." When I asked him why he wouldn't go he informed me that he might get hit by a car by then or maybe his house would burn down in which case he would not be able to make it. Almost all conversations about the future end this way.
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2 comments:
haha... im indian.. i can totally relate to that! all my relatives keep predicting violent ends to their lives! there's actually a reason to it, its called a 'panvati', which basically means whatever you say won't happen..! go figure!
not sure if that's the reason the turkish do it though. maybe they are just paranoid!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insha%27Allah
Usage of Insha'Allah derives from Islamic scripture, Surat Al Kahf (18):24: "And never say of anything, 'I shall do such and such thing tomorrow. Except (with the saying): 'If God wills!' And remember your lord when you forget...'"
from the same wiki article;
The Spanish word ojalá and the Portuguese word oxalá (both meaning "I hope [that]") are derived from law šāʾ Allāh[citation needed], a similar phrase meaning "if God willed it" or "if God wished it". In šāʾ Allāh is used for the execution of real actions (I'm going to the store if God wills it); law šāʾ Allāh is used to express a wish or desire one cannot fulfill (If God wished [Ojalá] that I could go to the store, but I'm busy). They are an example of the many words borrowed from Arabic due to the Muslim rule of some areas of the Iberian Peninsula from the eighth to fifteenth centuries.
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