One of the first words our pets have to learn in the Christie household is the word 'imshi!' It's an Egyptian word meaning 'get out' or 'scram!' We've always used it and I can remember Dad telling whatever cat we had in the house to 'imshi' out of his chair. When Nera first came to Australia, she was surprised to hear us use the word which she had heard, of course, in Saudi Arabia, where she worked.
We had always thought that Dad had brought the word with him from Scotland but, as it's now so much part of our usual vocabulary, we didn't give it much thought. It's part of Archie's known vocabulary now too.
In an idle moment this week, I looked it up to see whether I could find out how it had made its way into Scottish usage. Was it through POWs or refugees or recent immigrants? I was surprised to find there's no Scottish connection. It's an Australian adoption, in fact, brought back by Australian soldiers who learnt it when training and being stationed in Egypt. So Dad might have picked it up at the Port Kembla Steelworks. Who would have thought?
I found a reference to its use during a protest agains President Mubarak in 2011.
irhal ya'ni imshi (irhal means imshi)
ya illi mabtafhimshi (in case you don't understand me)
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