thats nothing on the way coming back one of the guys checkin my passport (he was just sitting on a stool in non-uniform and the passengers already had their passports checked moments ago, seemed pretty pointless) casually said 'ibn sharmoota' to me ...

i was thinking to myself he didnt just say that to me!, i just said eh? in a typical masri way and he had the nerve to say it again.. I couldn't believe it, it must be something he gets kicks out of to say it to tourists who dont understand. But unfortunatley for him I did and replied in arabic to him 'do u think I'm a foreigner and that I don't understand what you are saying' and he didn't expect that of course and started panicking sayin he was referring to somebody else.

I later complained to one of the luggage security guards and he then came back with what looked like 2 secret police - well one was in uniform but had distinctive bagdes so must of been high ranking and the other was non-uniform, i realised at once how serious it is to call somebody that insult. I explained again what he said and that he assumed I didnt understand etc. And all 4 of us approached that same guy again...

He was dealing with another queue of passengers but then the 2 police dispersed the crowd and told them to queue elsewhere and you should have seen the look on that guys face, it was priceless, he then got a good telling off and apologised to me.

It was a very stupid thing to say anyway, not because I studied arabic but its such a common insult that many foreigners may have come across it anyway.

quite sad