Actually, FOB as a derogatory term has less to do with locality and more to do with mentality: it implies that you’ve managed to drag your @$$ out of the third world but kept your perspective firmly in ‘old country’.
More power to them, actually: it’s one of the very few things I can commend them on.
‘Lol’ indeed. I’m guessing you’re as familiar with the expression “this $hit don’t fly” as I am with the term ‘jahaiz’. :-/
Whose expectations are these, exactly?
Thanks, but no thanks. I’ve had enough of this ‘jahaiz’/‘jahez’ malarky for one lifetime.
Expected by whom? The intended recipients and their “sometimes extended” (WTF?!?) family members? Who’d be daft enough to marry into such a family?
Not really: both the ‘jahaiz’ and the ‘gifts’ you discussed are material objects that the prospective bride or her family are “expected” (though ‘by whom’, and ‘why’ are apparently still up for debate) to provide, else face the potential consequences (Disappointment? Outrage? Spontaneous stove explosion?); I see the issues as two sides to the same coin.