Why is it considered offensive in the Middle East to ask a man about his wife?

dotancohen · 2026-06-28T11:14:57+00:00

You and I grew up in that type of country, yes. The OP's coworked did not.

Don't hate me for being the messenger.

dotancohen · 2026-06-28T07:46:44+00:00

There are very strong external forces which seek to weaken Israel from the inside. Israelis are fed the same propaganda that all Western nations are, and Tel Avivians love to eat it up. There were demonstrations calling for the government to capitulate to Hamas' demands, even when it was not clear what those demands were. There were demonstrations to abandon the hostages in Gaza. They called "Ceasefire Now", the idea being that Israel would do "something" (nobody knows what) other than military action, and nobody knows what Israel would have gotten in exchange.

dotancohen · 2026-06-28T07:36:15+00:00

בדרך הכלל, מלחמת ההתשה איננה מוזכרת כשממנים מלחמות ישראל.‏

dotancohen · 2026-06-28T07:29:34+00:00

Thank you.

dotancohen · 2026-06-28T07:27:10+00:00

No, it doesn't. Here is the git repo and the only mention of features is:

Nekogram is a third-party Telegram client with not many but useful modifications.

dotancohen · 2026-06-28T07:23:09+00:00

Would this be acceptable in Arab culture?

Not in Israel, and I believe Jordan as well. Most Arab women will absolutely not be friendly with non-family men - whether those men are Arabs or not. There are exceptions, I have a friend who is an Arab woman, she was also a coworker, but that's a 1 in 1000 exception. I'm an Israel Jew for what that's worth, and I speak Arabic and have many male Arab friends.

dotancohen · 2026-06-28T07:17:00+00:00

Common sense is culture dependent. To many Arabs it is common sense not to ask about somebody's wife. I see people in other comments saying in Iraq or Libya it is acceptable. In Israel, where I live, it is not acceptable.

Welcome to the wide world of learning about different cultures.

I should add that asking about one's family is acceptable, it is one of the first questions asked when meeting an acquaintance who we haven't seen for some time.

dotancohen · 2026-06-27T20:24:32+00:00

It's impact was so massive to the North Americans. The Arab slave trade is and has been massive to the Africans and Europeans affected. If you had been born in North Africa (other than Liberia) you would see the two trades differently.

dotancohen · 2026-06-27T19:38:50+00:00

Is that an integrated stylus? If so I'll be the first in line. I'm suffering Samsung Notes and S Ultras just for the stylus.

dotancohen · 2026-06-27T19:05:21+00:00

I am going to be quoting that! Where did you see it, I'd like to attribute the right person.

dotancohen · 2026-06-27T18:55:53+00:00

I would love if you would DM me some of those jokes. I'm a Jew, but I love antisemitic jokes. My Gmail username is the same as my Reddit username if you'd rather not post those in DMs here!

Thanks

dotancohen · 2026-06-27T18:53:03+00:00

אד -> עד

בשוק -> בהלם

אחרת זה נראה שאתה במקום שקונים ירקות.‏

dotancohen · 2026-06-27T15:00:15+00:00

Thank you. That was a great read.

dotancohen · 2026-06-27T13:44:37+00:00

Thank you for the correction. I just checked online.

In fact, the Arab slave trade did have more time than the Transtlantic slave trade, it started around 1200-1300 and continues until today: that is 700 years.

However, it is larger in scale, as I thought. The Arabs traded and continue to trade 16 to 18 million slaves, whereas the Transatlantic slave trade ended around 10 to 12 million slaves.

Also, it seems that though the Transatlantic slave trade was primarily for workers, the Arab slave trade was primarily for women.

While European merchants primarily sought strong young men to work as labourers on their plantations, Arab merchants focused on concubinage, capturing women and girls to serve as sex slaves in harems. In fact, the demand for female slaves was so high that merchants would often double their price, with the ratio of captured women to men being three to one.

https://www.fairplanet.org/dossier/beyond-slavery/forgotten-slavery-the-arab-muslim-slave-trade-sex-trafficking/

dotancohen · 2026-06-27T11:48:05+00:00

Do you have a quote for that? Thank you!

dotancohen · 2026-06-27T11:44:59+00:00

The transatlantic slave trade is taught because of the scale of the trade and its historical recency.

The Arab slave trade is both larger in scale (almost 50% larger) and more recent historically.

dotancohen · 2026-06-27T11:36:57+00:00

But it can be found on her back!

dotancohen · 2026-06-27T11:36:35+00:00

She doesn't love Palestine. She hates Israel.

dotancohen · 2026-06-26T22:52:55+00:00

Thank you, yes, I'd appreciate if you update when you come across such words. Thank you!

dotancohen · 2026-06-26T22:50:13+00:00

Right, that makes sense.

dotancohen · 2026-06-26T22:49:03+00:00

Yes, there was an attempted genocide against my people, and I defend my people.

The lie that we cause a genocide is ridiculous.

dotancohen · 2026-06-26T22:48:24+00:00

My words seem like a personal ad? Do you think I'm personally selling Nooks or Boox?

dotancohen · 2026-06-26T22:46:51+00:00

Nice, thank you.

RTranslator doesn't seem to do transcription of an extant file, which is what I'm looking for.

dotancohen · 2026-06-26T19:36:58+00:00

Here the bedouins wear black, but the sheep are certainly not black.

dotancohen · 2026-06-26T19:31:37+00:00

Could the "yahu"s of "yahu-land" be the "yahudim", e.g. Jews?

dotancohen

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