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El Nokta: How Egyptians Use Jokes to Vent

November 28, 2021
Luxor men share a laugh; Luxor, Egypt | c. El-Branden Brazil

Standing at a kiosk in the bustling neighborhood Mohandessin, a clerk offers someone a lukewarm soda, loose change, and a nokta: a brief joke punctuated with a smile and a snappy punchline. Little do either of them know that this nokta has a long road ahead of it – soon, it’ll be a dinner party talking point, and a workplace icebreaker. Nokat – or jokes – are the bread and butter of the Egyptian personality; from long, mastic-stretched riddles to quick jabs, locals have transformed humor into a cultural hallmark. Egyptians are not the first to use humor to “rebuil[d] the [understanding] of relationships” or manage stress levels, but they’ve certainly earned the title of Sha’b Ebn Nokta: a population raised on feel-good, quick comedy. “It’s a nokta!” Ahmed El Abd (57, engineer) laughed. Being Egyptian, El Abd grew up with this humor. “If it’s not short and biting, then who cares? Sometimes it’s elet adab (in poor taste), but that’s part of the fun.” The Journal of Cultural-Historical Psychology explains that jokes are vehicles of emotion, indicative of cultural narratives and biases; humor exposes the honest truth about the…


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