·Eastern Tobacco, Egypt's government-owned monopoly cigarette maker, lists its address as "Mahmoud Azmi Street No.9 Beside Al Gessa School for Girls."
·Signs seen at Cairo businesses:
·A picture frame store offers these services:
FREAMS -- MATING
·A movie poster for a pirated American B-movie lists, in the credits:
COSTUMED SIGNER: JOE SMITH
·Shingles in front of doctor's offices:
PEDEA TRITION
EAR NOSE AND THROAT DIPLOMAT
·So we’re asking directions to the pet supply store that sells anti-flea stuff. It’s on a street that on the map is labeled with a number, but it’s also got a name, and the folks out in the neighborhood don’t recognize the number. So I ask this guy for directions to the street using its name, as I gather that the name would be pronounced, starting with a phlegmy kh like the ch in Loch Ness Monster – “Khor/shed.”
The guy replies: “You mean Khorse-shit street?”
“Um,” I reply, not ready to accept what my ears are hearing, trying to steer him back my way, “I think it’s like, Khorss/shid.”
The man is conclusive. “Khorse-shit,” he says.
Novembers 2002 and 2003