N

I ate Italian pizza for lunch today. Italian as opposed to Middle Eastern. Usually, you hear New York or Chicago, but here you're lucky to get the option between Italian or Middle Eastern. Italian is way better. In absolute terms, Middle Eastern pizza is not great, but everything is relative, so in Egypt, the Middle Eastern pizza is not half bad.

The guy at the pizza joint had the letter N tattooed between his thumb and index finger. It was a thin capital N in blue ink like the ink that Coptic Christians use to tattoo crosses under their wrists. It turns out this guy befriended a Coptic tattoo maniac back in his army days. For whatever reason, the pizza dude decided he wanted a tattoo like his friend. That's a totally normal (or rebellious or whatever you want to call it) decision, but I couldn't understand why he got an N. I asked him why he didn't get a ن -- noon -- the arabic equivalent. He thought I was crazy. Young Egyptians love English letters. They look cool. Of course, he'd rather get an N.

The story sounds crazy, and I have some trouble believing it. But, in reality, Egyptians love English letters. You cannot find one single shirt in Egypt with Arabic writing except in the touristy area of Dohab where you can buy a t shirt that says مش عايز تاكس -- I don't want a taxi. T-shirts with weird non-sensical phrases in English are ubiquitous. 

N or ن. Which is more exotic is based on your point of view.