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106587

Entertaining Impoliteness in Egyptian TV Shows: Abla Fahita as a Model

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Last updated: 04 Jan 2025

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Abstract

Impoliteness can be defined as the use of “communicative strategies" which are “designed to attack face, and thereby cause social conflict and disharmony" (Culpeper et al., 2003: 1564). The present study applies Jonathan Culpeper's (2011a) model of ‘impoliteness' after being supplemented by the notions of jocular mockery, jocular abuse, and recipients' responses (Bousfield, 2008, 2010) to the TV show Abla Fahita. Abla Fahita, (Egyptian Arabic: أبلة فاهيتا [ˈʔɑblɑ fæˈhiːtæ]), is a puppet character which regularly appears on Egyptian television since 2011. The show has huge popularilty and, indeed, can be considered a phenomenon for being watched by 8 Million Egyptians, according to the Egyptian Centre for Research on Public Opinion. It should be noted, however, that Abla Fahita and other similar TV shows are considered radical in terms of the Egyptian politeness standards and conservative nature. Hence, such shows have been condemned as degrading and low-moral and have been accused of causing the deterioration of the Egyptian culture. Despite all denunciation, Abla Fahita still enjoys a huge audience and dominates in terms of the viewers' rates. Actually, a part of the show's popularity can be ascribed to its characteristic impoliteness, particularly Abla Fahita's off-beat expressions in mocking her guests and her sexual innuendos, which might be seen as entertaining by some viewers. The study shows that Abla Fahita employs what can be called a humour-impoliteness formula to entertain viewers. It is hoped that this paper would present a significant contribution to the study of impoliteness in Colloquial Arabic by investigating the exploitation of impolitement for entertainment purposes in Abla Fahita

DOI

10.21608/opde.2018.106587

Keywords

Entertaining impoliteness, the Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, Egyptian TV shows, Abla Fahita

Authors

First Name

Wesam M. A. Ibrahim

Last Name

Ibrahim

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Volume

65

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

14739

Issue Date

2018-07-01

Receive Date

2020-08-09

Publish Date

2018-07-01

Page Start

515

Page End

549

Print ISSN

1110-2721

Online ISSN

2735-3591

Link

https://opde.journals.ekb.eg/article_106587.html

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https://opde.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=106587

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15

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Original Article

Type Code

1,140

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Journal

Publication Title

CDELT Occasional Papers in the Development of English Education

Publication Link

https://opde.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Entertaining Impoliteness in Egyptian TV Shows: Abla Fahita as a Model

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Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023