βHey pigeon-keeper, flip me on the grill rack!β The spicy guide to queer Arab slang
Scorpions, grill racks, pigeons β if you want to know what these terms also mean, look up The Queer Arab Glossary, a playfully illustrated new compendium of words running from the affectionate to the derogatory
Do you know what yrabbΔ« αΈ₯amΔm means? It is one of 330 slang terms that Lebanese artist Marwan Kaabour has put in his debut book, The Queer Arab Glossary. YrabbΔ« αΈ₯amΔm is a colloquial term that means βpigeon keeperβ, with the word αΈ₯amΔm (pigeon) a common euphemism for penis. Itβs Kaabourβs favourite entry and, he says, αΈ₯amΔm is used βin an endearing way, like in a way a mum and child would joke aboutβ. The term can also refer to someone who engages in gay sex, and it is accompanied by an illustration by Palestinian graphic designer Haitham Haddad, showing a cheerful gay man with a moustache feeding pigeons depicted as flying penises.
The book provides a snapshot of the linguistic landscape of queerness in Arabic-speaking regions, with examples from Levantine, Iraqi, Gulf, Egyptian, Sudanese and Maghrebi dialects. βI am waging a battle on two fronts with this book,β says Kaabour, who is based in London. βThe first is directed towards the authorities of my own people, those who claim that queerness is a western import. I am debunking that. Iβm showing them how we have been a big part of Arab society since day one. The second is facing westwards, particularly to those who have rightwing politics, who say that Arabs are somehow innately homophobic or sexist.β
Continue reading...Β© Photograph: Haitham Haddad
Β© Photograph: Haitham Haddad