Most schools have some sort of private language. An overseas school gets much of its slang from the local language which in Aden’s case is Arabic – but "Arabic" is no more a single language than "European" is. Aden Arabic – from simple geography – has more in common with Saudi Arabic or Egyptian than it does Moroccan or Persian but also imports lots of words from Somali, Swahili, the Indian languages and many others (even English). As well as words from Aden Arabic, quite a few service phrases were slipped in.

The following are a few words I recall using (or hopefully will have been given by other contributors). A few other words will be discreetly omitted ! I’ve included a few I’m really not quite sure about it – if you can correct them, please do. On the other hand don’t bother correcting what you take to be a slight spelling mistake – the representation of Arabic words in English is very much a matter of personal interpretation & most of the actual sounds are impossible to render accurately (well that’s my excuse).