MovieChat Forums > Four Brothers (2005) Discussion > What does 'Awesome Alu-lake-um' mean?

What does 'Awesome Alu-lake-um' mean?

posted 16 years ago by ilmmickey
16 replies | jump to latest

There was a scene when you're more than a half-hour into this show where Bobby Mercer (Mark Wahlberg) et al went to the nearby basketball court, only to be nearly stopped by everyone in the stadium. During the announcement Bobby made about some of these people noticing the assassination of his adoptive mother Evelyn (Fionnula Flannagan) at the nearest Piggly Wiggly (or was it not PW?) within the past week, Jack (Garrett Hedlund) stopped the 16-year-old boy from running in the school hall and cornered him with help from Angel (Tyrese Gibson). When Jack gave Bobby the news that he stopped the teen, Bobby appreciated their help with the lead to his mom's assassination during the robbery gone wrong, allowing the crowd to carry on with their game, and, in the process, said a phrase that neither my younger brother nor I understand at all, such as "Awesome Alu-lake-um." What does this phrase mean, anybody? Thanks in advance when you turn up with it.

[–] Bexin 16 years ago

Assalam alaikum is a traditional Muslim greeting which means "peace be unto you." The traditional response is wa alaikum assalam, which means "and on you be peace."

Why So Serious?

[–] kafka201 15 years ago

To add a little more, in Metro-Detroit there is one of the largest concentration Middle-Easterners outside of the Middle-East itself, so they may have been trying to incorporate that a little into the movie.

[–] Fwank_The_Nutter 15 years ago

My subtitles (Danish, there's not always an English option) translated it to "hasta alaikum". I was like "huh?".

[–] heherrera 15 years ago

I understood what he said (A'Salaam Alaikum), why he said it though i have no idea... Does it mean anything??

[–] selfdestructicons 14 years ago

He said it because he was in a room full of black people.

[–] IMDBmurphy 15 years ago

Same here (see posting below). It was just a joke :>

[–] DocCasualty 12 years ago

by kafka201 (Tue Jan 20 2009 19:23:06)
To add a little more, in Metro-Detroit there is one of the largest concentration Middle-Easterners outside of the Middle-East itself, so they may have been trying to incorporate that a little into the movie.

It had nothing to do with Middle-Easterners in the Metro Detroit area. This was a bit of a slur directed toward the Black supremacist group, The Nation of Islam, with the implication that the group he directed it at were Black racists.

"Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye." 2001: A Space Odyssey

[–] shonoffilm 11 years ago

That's not it. It's a fact that there are a lot of practicing Black Muslims (Nation of Islam and the like) in that area, not just Middle Easterners. Bobby was making an insensitive joke (like basically saying F-U).

http://howiconquered.hubpages.com/

[–] TaysChreNN 15 years ago

It's not necessarily muslim, it's an arabic phrase.

[–] IMDBmurphy 15 years ago

In the German dub his phrase was "hastalalaikum", a humorous mixture of "hasta la vista" and "assalam alaikum". So I guess in the original version it has been such a combination as well, maybe your "awesome alaikum" or something else like this ...

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[–] X-company2008 15 years ago

It's an Arabic phrase to say hi or goodbye.
We Iranians use it too sometimes.

[–] IMDBmurphy 15 years ago

And you are telling me, because ...?

Please read my signature until you understand it.

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] thegobe 14 years ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As-Salamu_Alaykum

[–] 14 years ago

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