One Lucky Soul: The Origin of ‘Wishbone’ and the “Yadas - Fi bali” (يدس

The Origin of ‘Wishbone’ and the “Yadas - Fi bali” (يدس - في بالي) Game by Omar Cherif, One Lucky Soul

Furcula:

furcula
/ˈfəːkjʊlə 

Furcula (n): A forked organ or structure, in particular.  

a. The wishbone of a bird.

b. The forked appendage at the end of the abdomen in a springtail, by which the insect jumps.

Origin: Mid 19th century; from Latin, diminutive of furca ‘fork’.

Being part of a Logophilia Facebook group specialised in words and language, this morning I came across a post with the featured photo, which took me down memory lane. It’s interesting that I have never thought of the existence of the word [furcula] in English as I only used it in Arabic as a kid.

So here it goes...

Squabs (young pigeons/quail) are a popular dish in Egypt among many other parts of the world. While living with my grandparents for a few years, I learned a game from my grandma that she used to play as a kid. And the whole idea was whoever first finds this ‘furcula’ when eating their pigeon would hold it up and say: “Yadas” (يدس).

Now, whoever wanted to take part in the game would lift his hand and break the bone in half with you while saying: “Fi bali” (في بالي), meaning “in my mind”, signalling the beginning of the game.

The one and only rule is that since breaking the bone, whenever I would pass the other player anything and they take it, they must say “Fi bali”, showing that they remember the game. If they forgot to say it out loud and I said: “Yadas” as they took the item, I win. Usually one point, though oftentimes it’s only one round as players forget about it after getting up from the dining table.

As such, whenever they would occasionally cook the birds at home I was always excited to find the furcula in my plate and use my tiny slippery hand to break it with my grandmother; in later years sometimes with my mother, younger sister, cousins, even grandfather.

I usually won — or perhaps the sweet woman used to let me win — which often meant that for every point I get an Egyptian Pound. For a 6 or 8-year-old a full L.E was certainly something. Other times, it was purely for fun.

My trick to win was simple yet effective. Right after we get up from the table I would pretend to have totally forgotten about the game, going about my afternoon all casually. Maybe an hour later while in the living room, I would wittily start a conversation with her about something random, and then I somehow insert anything in the interaction which required me to give her something in her hand. She would then forget to say “Yadas” and I’d win the precious point.

Not being exactly sure about the origin of the game, I’m sure happy the Logophilia post reminded me of the instance this morning.

Rereading the above lines later on that day, the word WISH just flashed in front of my eyes, making me wonder why the furcula is called wishbone in the first place. This once again led to the sweet World Wide Web.

Whether with fereek (freekeh) — a cereal made from wheat resembling quinoa —
or with rice, stuffed squabs (Hamam Mahshi) are how we usually enjoy them
in Egypt. The less filling grilled ones are another option. Here posing for the camera during a trip back to the Motherland where I get to indulge in home-made hamam once or twice every year. After dropping the meats, I enjoy such occasional cultural experiences because of the shock they give my body and nervous system.

Eventually I wrote the following post about the difference between Pigeons, Doves, and Quails ( حمام، يمام، سمان ) after photographing some pigeons freely roaming in the the streets of Dahab shortly after moving there:

Have you ever wondered what’s the difference between Pigeons, Doves, & Quails? Also in Arabic there is ( حمام، يمام، سمان ). While I knew pigeons are ( حمام ), the other two remained confusing. Interestingly, my grandfather Omar Cherif — who shared an uncanny resemblance to Nikola Tesla who apparently communicated with pigeons — also homed and bred them. So I began digging into these somewhat similar yet seemingly distinct types of birds.

Now, pigeons (Columba livia) [ حمام ] — also known as Common Pigeon, Rock Dove, Rock Pigeon — are members of the bird family Columbidae, which are distributed on almost every continent. They have a pale grey plumage with two distinct black bars across each wing. With a dazzling speed of 150 km/h, their lifespan in the wild is around 6 years. The domestic pigeon (Columba livia domestica) is a descendant of this species. Escaped domestic ones have increased the populations of feral pigeons around the world.

Doves (Streptopelia) [ يمام ] is a genus of birds also in the family Columbidae. As it turns out, in scientific nomenclature there’s no difference between pigeon & dove; but colloquial English tends to categorise them by size — some even do it by colour; usually they are smaller than pigeons. However, both doves and pigeons refer to the 308 species of birds from the family. While the word dove came into English from Nordic languages, pigeon was borrowed from French.

  Finally, there are Quails (Coturnix coturnix) [ سمان ] or Common Quail. Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. Old World quail and New World quail belong to different families. Also, quail eggs are smaller than chicken eggs, yet contain more fat, protein, iron, riboflavin, and vitamin B12 by weight.

 Then there are also Squabs. In culinary terminology, it refers to an immature — unfledged — domestic pigeon, typically under 4-weeks old, or its meat, which is widely described as tasting like dark chicken. The term is probably of Scandinavian origin; the Swedish word “skvabb” means loose, fat flesh. Historically, squabs/pigeons have been consumed in various civilisations, like ancient Egypt, ancient Rome, & Medieval Europe

Sometime later, Eating Cows’ Trotters — كوارع was also written.

More recent digging led to finding out that the wishbone tradition goes all the way back to Ancient Romans who thought of them as a symbol of luck. Like grandmother and I, they would be snapped apart by two people while each making a wish. The person holding the longer piece was said to have good fortune or their wish granted. If the bone cracked evenly in half, both people would have their wishes come true. Ha, how convenient. As I came across said historical Snapple Fact, more memories flooded my mind, actually reminding me of this two-halves luck bit.

When the Romans further began travelling throughout Europe they brought the tradition with them, eventually the English adopted the practice. While breaking a turkey’s wishbone started with the Pilgrims, the term ‘wishbone’ originated in America in the mid 1800s. So it’s apparent that it is not a purely Eastern thing. My grandmother’s grandparents must have some way somehow picked it up along the way before reaching that kid in Cairo who many decades later decided to write an article about it.

And now we know.