The word corniche comes from the French route à corniche or road on a ledge.
The word corniche typically refers to a road on the side of a cliff or mountain, with the ground rising on one side of the road and falling away on the other.
In Lebanon and Egypt, the word كورنيش typically describes a waterfront promenade usually paralleled by a main road, such as the renowned Corniche in Beirut or like on the picture in Alexandria.
Almost 20 years ago, I was for the first time in an Arabic country (July 16.-29, 1989). I had actually planed to travel by train from Moscow to Hong Kong, however the Chinese authorities thwarted this by their massacre on the Tiananmen Square. Nevertheless, I never regretted going to Syria instead.
One of the phrases our guide often used was Yallah Habibi (let's go darling). The phrase kind of engraved itself into my brain and since then, I usually learn it as one of the first in a new language I encounter.
Habibi (حَبيبي) is an Arabic word that literally means my beloved (of a male; the female form is habibati, or colloquially habibti), from the adjective habib (beloved). It is commonly also used for friend, darling, and similar endearments.
And since I'm in Egypt let's listen to how Mohamed Fouad interprets it:
Mise en place is a French term referring to having all the ingredients necessary for a dish prepared and ready to combine up to the point of cooking.
Like today, Toño had quite a stirring day at work (they were sold, his boss quit etc.). Thus I did the grocery shopping and made the mise en place so that Toño only had to perform his magic at the stove and select the wine.
home made is quite a strained expression, however, when it is presented at 30000 feet on an airliner and wrapped in cellophane it is nothing more than a blatant lie.
I'm with child is Toño's favourite expression at the moment. He picked it up watching The Tudors and keeps repeating it like a mantra although the women using it in the TV drama tend to end badly.
When a homosexual male is attracted to straight males, he's a "Straight Lover" or as an acronym Stover, as Mark just explained in a tweet. How might the stover's prey be called?
La vie n'est pas un long fleuve tranquille. As a result of that, Toño has got more than one family name. Of course, he has also different passports made out in the different names. Everything is legal as long as he uses them in an exclusive or manner. The different authorities involved are aware of all the names, nevertheless, this leads to a lot of confusion whenever he is crossing a border.
One of those names is Ponce and when watching the fabulous adaptation of Jake Arnott's The Long Firm by the BBC, this term came up numerous times.
Toño was under the impression that this must be something nice. He was far from pleased when he learned the following:
(British, slang) A pimp.
(British, pejorative) A posh or effeminate person.
