Abu

There's a practice I find amusing here in the Arab nations that I haven't come accross anywhere else in the world: that of being named after your kids.  To do this, they use the term "abu" which means "Father of."  Makes sense since you obviously like those names given that you chose them for your kids.

Formally they use the "Al" to refer to a father somewhere up the family line or tribe (similar to the whole -son and -dottir thing in Iceland.)  A typical name in Saudi would be Mohammed AlDossary for example. But as you get to know people better, know their family and know their kids, the more informal greeting is Abu.

"Abu Stéphane,  Santosh is away for four weeks on his annual leave.  I trust you will do the needful to assure proper coverage of the plant."

Stéphane found this quite amusing when he was here and burst out laughing of joy every time it was used.  I could try to tell him there a sub-clause that allows me to use other kids names if I liked them better and told him that I'm really an Abu Danika or Abu Jérémie but he confidently replied: "No, you're an Abu Stéphane."

So when father's day came along, Jérémie was on the ball and wished me happy father's day 9 hours ahead of the others by being in tune with the proper Saudi time zone.  I let Stéphane know that I was now going by Abu Jérémie since he gained my favour.  In the "Abu" WhatsApp group Stéphane frustratingly replied:  "Damn,  I take my Abu-ship seriously."

Proud papa,

Abu-Sténimie