I don’t know where to put this…..

Just a little aha moment I didn’t know where to write…….

I read Urdu and I was reading some poetry just now. The lines I was reading were, in English,

Would you be

satisfied with

three lines

after your name

in the history books?

– Afzal Ahmad Syed

But as I read the Urdu, it said “in front of your name” instead of “after your name”. I suddenly realized that b/c Urdu is written right to left, of course comments would come ’in front of’ your name. As an example, my name, then my job title:

Eng.

Pat………….. teacher

Urdu

teacher……….Pat

So the lines would go in front of your name, not after it. You would think everything would switch and so one would still say ’after’, but it’s as if they are looking at it left to right.

If anyone can help me figure this out, let me know. I’m on a couple of Urdu lists, but they don’t discuss language issues of this sort, just higher-level literary issues.

BTW, the word used for ’in front of’ is ’ke age’ as in “Apne naam ke aage…….”

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