Iranian Madness

Everyone who’s been long enough in the Middle East has learned how to say insh’allah (which literally translates as “God willing”).

The word is very misused: in theory it’s supposed to indicate that God is after all in control of everything we do, and although we are doing our best to achieve things He can change the course of action.

However, it’s often misused to avoid responsibilities (especially in government offices). In fact, most of the times, when you hear insh’allah as an answer to your request (which is very often), you can pretty much forget that you’ll get the thing done on time, or at all.

The strange thing is that you don’t hear the word too often in Iran – it’s very Arabic (in Farsi they prefer to say Khoda midune, which means God knows, but it’s valid in a different context).

However, Iran Aseman, one of the worst airlines of Iran (and possibly of the whole world), has definitely invented a situation where insh’allah is just the right thing to say.