Did you read our 11 Signs You Were Raised by an Arab Mom? Now we decided to list a few characteristics of Arab dads. Can you relate?
1) You know when he’s on the phone and it sounds like he’s shouting or upset he’s actually just using his normal voice.
2) You can literally ask for anything while he is playing tawla or cards with his friends and he’ll say yes, yes habibi (now go away).
3) When he doesn’t call you habibi, habibti or baba, and uses your actual name…You know you’re in trouble.
4) He has a few conspiracies about the government/politics that you used to think were just plain crazy. Now you can kind of understand where he was coming from.
5) He expects you to follow whatever career path he took. Or just to be a doctor, lawyer or engineer. Studying liberal arts or the history of Latin America? Sho?
6) The older he gets… the higher that pant line.
7) You know that the main reason he wants a smart phone is to play cards/candy crush.
8) You know your dad was in the building from the smell of his cologne even though he left 3 hours ago.
9) He likes to have an endless supply of pistachios, pumpkin seeds and bizer, you know, in case of an apocalypse he needs to make sure you’ll have plenty of nuts to eat.
10) If you’re going out, he needs a detailed plan of what you will be doing… timeline, your escorts, their whole family tree, dates of birth, marital status, venue, date of construction and completion, and going over different contingency plans for every emergency scenario possible.
11) He really just loves to bargain. Even if you’re living not in the Middle East anymore, he’ll still try to get the lowest price on that laptop at the Mac store.
Do you agree with this list? What are some other characteristics of Arab dads? Or Persian dads? Tell us in the comments below!
Illustration by Hanin Suradi
