Here is a common scenario that always keeps me wondering. In a place away from Ethiopia, when you meet any Habesha randomly on some street, there are a set of questions that are always the ice breakers. Maybe it's because I've been away a while but I find that they are one too many Qs for icebreakers…
"Eshiiiiii sint gize honesh kemetash?", “Abat ena Enatesh Abrewish nachew? " "Eyetemarsh new weyes eyeserash?" depending on the answers given, even " Sint ametesh new?" makes the list. Ye' Addis Abeba lij nesh? Ye'Bole lij nesh?….where I'm concerned, they're a little too many irrelevant Qs for a stranger to be asking. Hell, what's with the 20 questions?
Plus what's with too many older men hitting on barely legal Habesha girls? Maybe I left Addis too young, was this normal for Addis too?
Published by October 15th, 2006 in Social.Send this post to a friend
whatelse can we talk about?it ain’t like theycan talk about watcha did before,so they have to ask Qs to avoid the awk moment.
about the older men- lol
i guess they still doing what theywere used to doing back home.underage marriage is common in ethiopia,especially in the durty south!-lol
i think older men want to date younger woman because the older woman want to date really older men….
and young woman in their early twenties want to date someone in the early thirties…. that is the way the ball rolls
Ahhh the famous Q&A’s among some Abeshoch. I have some answers.
Q. “Eshiiiiii sint gize honesh kemetash?”
A. I just got off the plane.
Q. Abat ena Enatesh Abrewish nachew?
A. Not right at this moment.
Q. Eyetemarsh new weyes yeserash?
A. Min lemare, do you have any suggestions and do you know who’s hiring?
Q. Sint ametesh new?”
A. You mean as of right now, I’ll need a calculator cause I live by the minute.
Q. Ye’ Addis Abeba lij nesh?
A. What’s it to you?
Q. Ye’Bole lij nesh?.
A. What’s it to you?
You know what I believe is that a lot of Habeshoch love asking the 20 quetions because they want to know how they measure up.
As far as the older men, it’s a worldwide phenomenon. Older men hit on younger women in America, Asia, Europe, Africa…it’s not exclusive to Ethiopia.
I wanna clarify sth here. The older man I’m talking about are ppl who’re in their early 40s and above hitting on girls that are 18-22…ain’t that just disturbing on some level?
Hey Celebratelife, love the Q&A…I’m seriously considering using it.
Temelkach, Or you can just stare at them and that works too but better yet give an answer to a question they didn’t ask you.
I’m gonna have to agree with rebecca on this…
How long have you been there is a mesurement of how sophisticated you are……
I am guilty tooo…. except my question is how old are you? i ask that all the time… i remember once when a freind of a freind was really annoyed by it….
I guess he was somewhat consious that the age difference was big between him and the girl he was courting…
Nolawi,
in a way you’re also agreeing that it’s a lil disturbing by pointing it out whether you meant to or not.
Rebecca, I, as a female in my 20s, I don’t go wanting to date men who are old enough to be my Dad…and when you’re past a 20-year difference, then truly, you’re in two different generations.So when you say older women wanting to date older men, it doesn’t explain why barley legal 18, 20 year olds dating ppl in their early 40s.
Temelchach; how old r u btw?
Ashelashosht!
Oh, I too am so so tired of these corny questions, esp. sint gize honesh kemetash? If you give them a small number, they try to lecture you about how fast cars go on the freeways (this really did happen) and will immediately start speaking Eng to you, as if…
and if you give them a large number, they will to get on that freeway as soon as possible and disappear cause they get intimidated…
Nolawi: I agree these questions are used to measurement how sophisticated one is. Problem is, how do we define sophistication or civilized behaviour. Brown skin folks all over the world have been brainwashed to think that anything associated with white skin folks is civilized and anything associated with brown skin is not civilized. In my opinion, it will take another 500 years to free ourselves from this slave-mentality.
I say we all go out with a pad, a pen and the 20 questions and see how many people would respond j/k.
Timo, I love the answer, they speak english, depending on your answer or describe how fast the cars go, been there. People, people speak Amarenga when you’re around Abeshoch, it’s good practice.
The older men hit on younger girls because they think they can buy back their youth, that’s what I think. Look at old man Hefner he’s still ticking after 80, and the beat goes on, and the beat goes on. Beyond 5 years of age difference, stop in the name of love.
I actually wish there was a more diplomatic way of saying “none of your business!” in Amaregna!
One fine evening, I met a 50-something looking Habesha man in a Toronto subway station (at about 11pm). After asking me my name, he went on asking how long I had been in Canada. Although I had lived here a whole lot longer than that, I told him I’ve only been here 2months and ofcourse he automatically assumed I went to highschool and started lecturing me about how the private schools in Addis are so good an’ all that..Hello! I’m the one who just came from Addis! Then a couple of bla bla bla later, we get to the “let me show you around” invitation and I come up with some excuses and then he asked me who I live with and I reply “ke’Welajoche gar”… that didn’t stop him to ask me for my number anyway and then I replied “Ye’Welajoche’n Silk mestet agbab aymeslegnim” and that didn’t stop him from giving me his number and telling me I can call him anytime before 9AM in the morning and we can hung out during the weekends . Did I say he thinks I’m a highschool kid and he’s a 50-somethin’ old guy…so I left it at…Be’semeAB!!!
Seriously though, what is it with the old men! If it is to reclaim their youth, couldn’t they go for someone who’s actually legal…maybe someone in their 20s. If I was a truly highschool student, I’d be under 18 in fact. I don’t know if there is term for Pervert and Statutory rape in Amharic but with this kinda developments, we might just need to come up with one!
I like these questions. They’re neutral. Almost everybody has an answer to them, and if both participants have any interest whatsoever in continuing with it, the conversation can easily slide into other topics.
What else is is one to say one upon first encounter?
‘Tis a beautiful day today, isn’t it Miss?
What do you think about Wal Mart’s recent expansion in China?
You got a boyfriend?
Are you a CUD supporter?
Have you accepted Jesus Christ as you personal Lord and Savior?
Do u like my socks …?
Ditto on the azawuntoch mashkormem-ing their daughter’s friends.
Ha ha aha ah woy gude fela… Lol at azawuntoch mashkormeming!
Nolawi,
What’s up with the big eraser. Are we all doomed to be Stepford Wives and Husbands Incarnate?
I have found myself thinking why we ask each other those questions as well.
Am not a sociologist and I definitely haven’t done any kind of study/research in the matter but am willing to bet that there is some kind of a trend with HOW, WITH WHOM, AND WHEN many Habeshas migrated to the good old U.S of A.
Also I believe there is another trend/similarity in how we lead our lives based on our past back home and after we moved to the US.
I think we all kinda have a general understanding of these trends, thus asking those questions when we first meet other Habeshas gives as a starting point to understand each other better.
Even though I get annoyed when asked the famous set of questions at times, they might be important in order to relate to each other and might be a way of finding things in common.
celebratelife those questions you had listed are good profiling questions. They will cut trough the bulshit and save both parties time.Dod not get it why u sound issed off by them
Delalaw, You thought I was pissed? That’s because you don’t know me sweets. But if I was pissed….better to be pissed off then pissed on right?
sourcearticle.info has a similiar post if anyone’s interested
There’s some more information here if anyone’s interested