Read this piece of a conversation between two typical guys in Riyadh:

Guy1: Where the hell have you been last night? I called you like a million times.
Guy2 (looking like he doesn’t want to answer that question): OK,OK… I was playing Sony. Do you expect me to answer?
Guy1: aha…

For you who live outside Saudi Arabia, ‘Sony’ is a short for the popular video gaming console Sony PlayStation. So, nothing seems wrong with this conversation, right? Guy2 is an addicted gamer, what’s wrong with that? Actually, you are wrong. Because according to Riyadh Jargon Watch, if a person says he was “playing Sony” this does mean that “he was making out with a girl“

This is only an example of the coded language of the young lads in Riyadh. I know few more examples, but because I’m not a Riyadh native, it is not really easy for me to learn more of this secret language. Of course, in all soceities, any group of people can have their secret language. However, in such conservative soceities like the one we have here, things can get really interesting.

The historical Gaisria Market of Hassa will be rebuilt.

Hamza al-Mezeini have a great column on the “culture of death” that some Islamists are trying to spread at our schools.

I was expecting this. The usually-boring newspaper of the university was out this morning carrying several letters written by students about the reality show Star Academy. It is the same old story, but the funny thing this time is that none of the letters mentions the name of the Saudi winner, while one of them calls the show “Shame Academy.” Another student was objecting about the “naked” girls in the audience who covered themselves with the Saudi flag. Yeah, for someone who used to see women covered from head to toe, these girls, wearing blue jeans and T-shirts, were practically naked.

Farah, have you read the newspaper? What do you think?

I think the decision of Amazon to publish books was much influenced by the large number of users on 43Things who said they want to write a book. Amazon’s investment in 43Things was a smart move, because this way, they can keep an eye on trends taking on the web, and use these information to introduce more services, and therefore, gain more revenue.

Badria al-Bisher tells a nice story. It turns out that boys are not the only ones to use cameraphones to take photos of girls. Girls will look at boys, make fun of them, and when it’s too funny, they are likely to take some photos.

Indonesian maid Nour Miyati who accused her Saudi employers of torture has been charged with making false allegations. The maid alleged the wife beat her “when she saw her walking in the house without underwear.”