Ay Sağ Ol and other phrases I overuse

I've been here mad long now, so its not surprising that I have adopted a few Azerbaijani phrases into my own everyday vocabulary. Sometimes when I'm talking to my homies in the states I throw in an "inshallah" or two, which is usually met with confusion and WTF?-ness. I'm pretty sure when I go back to NY I'll be speaking a weird combination of English, Spanish, and Azerbaijani, which will probably be annoying to those around me (my apologies in advance).

Below is a quick tutorial of my favorite words to use in Azerbaijani:
(friends: if you learn them now, when we meet again in a year you won't think I'm a total weirdo!)

Ay sağ ol! - Means thank you...except a very excited thank you. Like if you were looking for your glasses that have been lost for a week and your host mom finds them on top of the fridge and hands them to you and you respond: AY SAĞ OL!

Nuş Olsun! - Probably my favorite phrase ever. This is what you say to someone who is about to eat/have a meal, similar to Bon Apetit. We don't really have a saying like this in English, which is probably one of the reasons I love this phrase so much. It's like nuş has filled a lifelong void in my lexicon. How did I ever enjoy eating before I nuş'ed? (Ed. Note: Stay tuned for a future post concerning my coinage of the term 'douche olsun')

İnshallah - God willing; us PCV's usually translate it as 'hopefully'. Azerbaijanis use it similar to how we (in this case we = dominicans and other spanish speaking peoples) use "Si Dios quiere," soooo it is pretty much said in any/all circumstance(s). Example: Random woman you have just met on the street asks if you're married. You respond no. She asks why not. You respond that you will get married maybe 5 years from now. Her response: İNSHALLAH!

Hə - Informal 'yes'. It's like saying yea. I say hə so much I don't even remember what the formal word for yes is anymore. Oh well.

Olmaz - This doesn't really have a good one-word English equivalent. It means "not allowed" or "prohibited," but its so much more than that. Parents say this to children whenever they are doing something wrong, but this is just one of its many, MANY uses. Examples: Skeevy dude tries to discreetly graze some boobage on the marshrutka. OLMAZ! Your host mom hears you whistling inside the house. OLMAZ! You forget to take your muddy sneakers off at the front door. OLMAZ! You are drinking cold water in the winter. OLMAZ!

Bu nədir? - What is this? I've never been a fan of 'studying' so of course my knowledge of Azerbaijani is probably a bit far behind most other PCV's. That said, I use this question A LOT. Example: I see a carrot at the bazar. I hold it up and look at the salesguy, "Bu nədir?" Man replies: Markof. I think to myself, I probably should've known that given that I've been here for over 12 months. Whoops.

Nə olub? - My fav thing to say to staring, non-smiling children. It means what happened, but I'd like to think of it as more of a "What you lookin' at? You lookin' at me? What, I look weird to you or something?? YOU WANNA FIGHT ABOUT IT?!?"

Nə isteyirsən? - Means 'what do you want', but its kind of rude to ask this. I use it as a synonym for Nə olub. When I say this it is usually accompanied by furrowed eyebrows, a frown, a shake of my head, and a quick "What?!?" head jerk/shoulder shrug forward. (You know I'm talking about? That thing that people sometimes do to scare children like they're gonna start running after them or hitting them but you don't actually move you just jerk forward a little? No? Maybe its a New York thing then. Or an only-in-my-family thing. Nevermind then, I was just kidding, I never do that! *laughs uncomfortably and backs away from the computer*)