“Paper jam in the upper left tray”
“Open drawer and remove paper”
“Paper jam in tray 2. Replace paper”

,

Under ‘normal’ circumstances, “intimacy” designates a closeness, a proximity, an alignment, a fusion even. Such intimacy is then attributed to two souls, minds, hearts, or bodies.

But there is an other sense of intimacy that I have never noticed this vividly before. It is more profound, yet very subtle. It is only the pandemic + alienation experience that led me to see it like this.

Typically, people politely criticise this online-everything life as being “not the same”. Of course it is not the same when your work, your social life, your love life, your entertainment, travel, and… being are all done behind a screen. But what is actually missing?

لي الآن في هولندا ما يزيد عن السنتين. اللغات دائما ما تثير عجبي، دهشتي، وافتناني. من الطريف للغاية أنه على الرغم من التقارب الشاسع (إن صح التعبير!) بين الهولندية والإنجليزية، إلا أن بعض تعبيرات الهولندية تتطابق مع العربية تطابقا ساحرا في روحها. هذه قائمة لبعضها.

My fascination with Dutch took another level when in some instances it was much easier to compare the Dutch expression to the Arabic than the English. Although Dutch is very similar to English (compared to Arabic) in these examples Arabic and Dutch share the same spirit.