Kemal Hamulic Show: Slang and Cultural Expressions

Expression	Approx. time	Explanation
compliance management	1:00	making sure a company sticks to all the regulations
Bosnia-Herzegovina	1:20	southern European country of 4 million people
Croatia	1:35	country of 4 million people to the north of Bosnia
Adriatic Sea	1:47	body of water separating Italy and Bosnia
1992-95 Bosnian War	2:20	conflict between Bosnian Muslims and Serbo-Croatian Christians for control of regions of Bosnia-Herzegovina (after the breakup of ethnically diverse Yugoslavia)
dire circumstances	2:35	terribly difficult situations
ended up	2:41	resulted in
go through the motions	2:50	participating without focus or intent
flee	3:25	to run away from danger (past tense is “fled”)
surreal	3:27	a kind of fantasy, an experience that does not seem real
besieged	3:49	surrounded by an enemy and cut off from access to supplies
massacre	4:30	large-scale murder of many people
concentration camps	4:39	prison camps containing many people of one religious or ethnic group
mass graves	4:40	places where many bodies were buried without marking who was there
immediate family	4:58	parents and children
extended family	5:04	The basic family unit of parents and children, also called the “nuclear” family.  The next circle of family extends out to aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.  Only Kemal’s nuclear family fled to Switzerland for safety.
evacuated	5:30	removed to safety in an emergency situation
The City That Never Sleeps	6:06	nickname for New York City
International Organization for Migration (have logo)	6:22	http://www.iom.int
plopped down	7:35	To plop something down is to throw or drop it somewhat carelessly.  In Kemal’s case, his family didn’t have the luxury of time to pick the perfect country to live in.  As with many refugees, a move can happen quite suddenly because of the urgency of the situation.
Wonderbread	8:22	kind of soft American white bread baked in long rectangles
“If you build it, they will come.”	8:56	Alan said, “If you bring the customers, they will build the store.” Kemal grinned, “If you build it, they will come.” Here he showed that he understood a reference to the 1989 American movie, Field of Dreams.  In the movie, an Iowan farmer has a dream where he is told to build a baseball field in his corn farm.  The voice in his dream says people will pay to come to the middle of nowhere to watch America’s favorite pastime, the sport of baseball.
20 years hence	9:07	20 years afterwards
culture broker	9:55	someone who negotiates cultural conflicts
role reversal	9:58	where two groups take the opposite roles from usual
left on the side of the road	10:24	stranded, abandoned, not taken along on the trip
adult foster homes	10:22	living center for adults who cannot take care of themselves
Community Relations Commission	11:07	In Grand Rapids, the former Civil Rights Commission has responsibility to watch out for issues of discrimination.
quasi-judicial	11:12	having some decision-making power but no legal power
alleged discrimination	11:18	stories that discrimination happened
allegation of racial profiling	11:22	Kemal said the black and Latino communities complained to the city government that the local police were engaged in racial profiling. Racial profiling is where law enforcement officers stop to question or arrest members of certain racial or ethnic groups based on their race or ethnicity rather than on actual evidence they have committed a crime.  In many cities, people of color are arrested at much higher rates than white people, which gives the appearance of racial discrimination.
stakeholders	11:30	various people who have a stake in the results, people who are involved in the project or business
ethnic minorities	11:43	groups of racial, national, or ethnic people whose numbers do not dominate the local population (usually also connected to an inequality of power)
town hall meetings	12:09	A way for a government to stay responsive to the concerns of the citizens is to hold meetings in the local government buildings (town halls) where they can ask questions of the local officials.
focus groups	12:11	A focus group has a similar purpose to town hall meetings, but the format is different.  It includes a small group of citizens (about one dozen) who are chosen because they represent a specific community demographic; they are brought into a small meeting room and asked their opinions on topics of concern.
ride-along	12:20	Many communities have programs where citizens ride in the police patrol cars along with officers who are on duty.  This gives the community members a way to understand the job the police are doing.  In the case of this Grand Rapids program, the Commission members were monitoring police behavior for signs of racial profiling.
very secular	13:47	not very religious; relating to the world
tenets	13:50	major rules or principals of a religion or other philosophy
not adhere to strict hard line	13:59	easy, flexible, not conservative
abstain during Ramadan	14:15	Kemal said that Bosnian Muslims will abstain from drinking alcohol during Ramadan.  Strict Muslims do not drink alcohol.  Moderate Muslims occasionally drink in social situations.  During the annual month of prayer and fasting, even moderate Muslims will give up drinking alcohol.
mixed marriage	14:45	marriage with partners from two different groups
congregation	15:05	local group of people united for religious practice and identity
brutally honest	16:57	strongly truthful, even if the message is harsh