Re: Telling time in Tunisia: the "drej"


Alan wrote:

Off the topic of "drej" for a moment, but still related to Tunisian
perception of time, there's an interesting Tunisian colloquial expression
("fi:sa") which is best translated as "right away", "immediately", or "this
instant". Fi:sa" is a contraction of "fi: sa:3a" which means "in an hour".
:-)

I think Alan fi:sa contraction is made possible because the sound 3ain
is often weakened in non-Arab Muslim countries (or remote Arab
countreis) where the Arabic word sa:3a is borrowed. The words sa:3a
(hour), daqi:qa (minute), thaniya (second) show loan translation. BTW
the time confusion is found in German too:
Halb acht:: seven thirty (half past seven)
Dreiviertel acht:: a quarter to eight

.