Intellectual Conversation

It was a warm day, but Starbucks was cold. She reviewed her Arabic notes as her teacher walked up to her table.

"How was your business trip to Pittsburgh?" he asked (in Arabic).

"Chicken!" she answered.

**pretty = djidad. chicken = didjadj

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"And this is how you spell shukran (thank you) in Arabic," he noted as he wrote.

She blinked. "But you left out the n."

"It has no n. The hamza (a squiggle) is pronounced like an n."

"But you said the hamza is silent."

"It is."

She coughed meaningfully.

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"How is this pronounced," she asked, pointing at a word that ended with a hamza. She had figured it all out. It would either be silent, or would be pronounced like an n.

He read the word.

"But why did you make that hard gutteral sound in your throat!" she accused him tearfully.

"Because of the hamza."

She stared.