swifts  &  s l o w s · a quarterly of crisscrossings

journalism and cinema and film
Zeid

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Al-Lugha Al-Ingleeziya (The English Language)

I was told my generation is killing the Arabic language
in high school, where the language classes were a joke
that had substitute teachers punching holes in the wall

literally, in the archaic sense of that word.

Is that why I speak English better than my native language?

I was reprimanded for applying Arabic storytelling techniques

in my English essays

when my thinking was in Arabic.

I was lauded for applying Western storytelling techniques

to my Arabic essays.

Now I live, I speak, I think in English

My mother tongue was demoted

to aunt-in-law.

It’s weird to say aunt-in-law in English

We wouldn’t say “aunt-in-law” in Arabic
We’d say: “khal-toe fil-qa-noon”
If you’re in the know: This only applies to half of aunts-in-law.

There’s no need to be in the know.
The English language is, after all, a global language
connecting cultures that don’t share a common tongue
So it must be that English is very important

But a question: Why is the English language, in particular, a global language?

Why not a different language?

Great Britain had colonies across the world:
From the Americas to Africa to Asia, even Oceania
Those lands were occupied by Britain for an influence-
the-education-and-culture time frame

On the heels of English were French and Spanish
French still fights to become the global language
Alliance française opened up in one of my cities
I took classes there
I wanted to speak French like my Lebanese friends

I wanted to visit Lebanon but then they got shell shocked

Here’s a bombshell; it’s from World War Two
where a powerhouse enters from stage right
solidifying English as a global language
raising Mandarin as its rival on the world scale

The United States of America

They brought pie
I had pie for the first time when I moved to America
It was a 50-cent pie bought from Walmart at midnight
And if other nations wanted a piece of my 50-cent pie
their leaders better be able to converse in English
Lest they be seen as the inferior nation

Along with 50-cent pies, Uncle Sam
brought Hollywood and journalism and cinema and film
I loved Hollywood and journalism and cinema and film
then Uncle Sam brought a boom of technology
I loved technology! I didn’t love booms.
then Uncle Sam brought a new type of imperialism
making English the language of trade and commerce

necessary for any nation that wanted to buy 50-cent fa-tee-ras

Thinking back on it:
Uncle Sam pulled off the greatest deflection
(with the help of his parent)

He had my high school teachers blaming me for killing the Arabic language

When in reality,
he married my mother

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Zeid (he/they) is an author, poet, and scientist from Jordan. After writing for almost a decade, they’re finally submitting their pieces to be published.  Poetry of theirs was accepted into Assignment Literary Magazine, In Parantheses, Panorama, and Rising Phoenix Review.