Monday
Mar262007
Referendum: civil servants ordered to vote "yes"
By 
Issandr El Amrani | Egypt
Issandr El Amrani | Egypt
Late last night al-Jazeera reported that it had obtained a signed official memo from Damietta governorate ordering government employees to go vote "yes" in today's referendum on the constitution. It has been circulating by email quite rapidly.
Reader Comments (4)
So they dont' even have a greeting but just begin with ba'd al-tahiyya? That's what I call respect for the voting cattle.
As a beginning student of Arabic, why is it "bna'am" and not just "na'am"?
'ba’d al-tahiyya' is standard (Egyptian) Arabic letter writing , so it is not unusual. But I know what you mean.
Did you see the horoscopes in today's (March 26th) Al Akhbar newspaper? Each sun-sign literally tells you to go vote yes in the referendum. That's what I call black humour.
to soit: '"bna'am" since the meaning is: to go and "vote with a yes", not to "vote yes". That more the arabic way.
to Waleed: being a "libra", i'm glad that "alakhbar" astrologer gave me an exemption from going to "vote with a yes" ;-)