We had our first Haboob of the season this week. It was minor by most standards yet still a sight to see. Given our location between two ranges (east to west) and slightly uphill from the city storms are spectacular when they roll in from the east or southeast. This one blew up from Mexico and headed the familiar I-10 corridor up the state. Back to the Arabic.
My local weather–guy must be related to the station manager, or be part owner. He gets more air-time to deliver above and beyond than any other meteorologist I know. Well almost any other.
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| Completely Random Run-in With T.Deegan At Boston ’07 |
Deegan being the exception.
As part of the storm preview this week Chuck fully explained the origin and meaning of Haboob. He also noted how many other common modern American-English language words are also of Arabic origin. I must of missed that class as I was astonished. Sample list: admiral, alcohol, apricot, caliber, candy, chemistry, cotton, ghoul, guitar, lemon, magazine, massage, orange, pajamas, safari, sofa, syrup, tuna and zero. Yup, all Arabic in origin. Look ’em up.
Haboob’s only one of several local words I’ve learned over the last several months. Valley Fever, The Border, The Monsoon, The Foothills, Xeriscaping and Ceasar Chavez just to name a few. As corny as it may sound it’s these types of things that help tie a local/regional area together. Much as the assimilation of words from a language originating thousands of miles away that help shrink the size of our planet. Even more reason to increase tolerance and recognize commonalities among one another instead of spending so much time tearing down others.