"Bourdj-Hammoudtsi"

“RIDICULE, n. Words designed to show that the person of whom they are uttered is devoid of the dignity of character distinguishing him who utters them.”

The Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce

In order to comprehend the meaning of "Bourdj Hammoudtsi", one has to know that Bourdj Hammoud (in Armenian dialect), is a town in Beirut suburbs named Bourj Hammoud in Arabic. A swamp formerly, it was given to Armenians who arrived to Lebanon en route the desert of Der Zor in Syria via the death marches forced upon them by the Ottoman Empire. Over the years, the survivors built homes, shops, factories, schools and churches, thus Bourj Hammoud became the stronghold of the Armenian community in Lebanon, growing into a municipality in its own right.

I should mention for those who are not Armenian, especially for those who do not live in Lebanon, that despite its advancements in organizing the road ways - in a country that mostly treads unorganized roads, despite the way it becomes more and more independent when it comes to business and marketing, and the way it renovates its constructions and builds new and modern ones, Bourj Hammoud is still considered a rather poor town, and Armenian families keep moving out to fancier areas. Now Armenian families reside in other places as well.

So “Bourdj-Hammoudtsi” is an Armenian term that describes someone who is from Bourj Hammoud, such as myself. But don’t be fooled by the objective nature of the word, for it’s not pronounced with innocent intent by those who live outside of the area. If Ambrose Bierce* was another uninventive ignorant Armenian snob living outside of Bourj Hammoud, his Devil’s Dictionary would not be an ingenious constructive criticism of his people, but a childish ridicule of others where he would define the term as such:

Bourdj-Hammoudtsi: A low-class vulgar of ill manners and cheap expressions decorated with curses.

Pause.

Double take.

Disbelief.

Outrage.

Offense.

Now THOSE terms are how I feel and react everytime I witness firsthand, sometimes by my own friends, this way of relating to my hometown and its inhabitants, but then I overcome my shock when I realize how ignorant they are of their own vulgar ill-manners which are sugarcoated with what they believe to be sophistication. And to make it worse, they are oblivious of the fact that there are “Bourdj-Hammoudtsi”s everywhere. But of course… When there’s a thorn in your eye, the easiest thing to do is to shut your eye.

My name is Daisy, I am everything that I am, and I’m from Bourj Hammoud, a name people use to describe the worst things in others. And to all those people I will refrain from saying something that would rhyme with and sound like “got to yell”, not only because I don’t have it in me to say such things, but also because here I wish to make it a point not to live down to their expectations.

* Ambrose Bierce is a 19^th century American satirist known for his masterpiece “The Devil’s Dictionary”.