Bohong dan gila

The other day I listened to a segment in the radio where an ustaz from the Middle East (not sure which country) gave a short talk in Arabic, translated into Malay by a local ustaz. The actual topic was ‘Dunia Ladang Akhirat’ but towards the end he diverted from the topic a bit (with permission from the moderator) to give an advice to married couples. The following is roughly what he said (as translated):

Menjadi lumrah bagi isteri menyangka suaminya pembohong, dan menjadi kewajipan bagi suami untuk membetulkan persepsi isterinya.
Menjadi lumrah bagi suami menyangka isterinya gila, dan menjadi kewajipan bagi si isteri untuk membetulkan tanggapan suaminya.

I went “Whhaaaatt???”

And then he went on to elaborate (as translated):

Tuhan menjadikan wanita begitu sensitif hingga dia mengetahui apa yang sebenarnya suaminya mahu. Dan jika suaminya berkata yang lain, maka dia menuduh suaminya berbohong.
Dan lelaki pula tidak tahu mengapa isterinya pada satu saat begitu gembira, tetapi tiba-tiba menjadi sangat dukacita, hingga dia berkata isterinya sudah gila.

I had to laugh. That’s just so ‘weird’! I don’t know if this is the case of meanings lost in translation, or cultural idiosyncrasy or what, but I wouldn’t have used the words ‘bohong’ and ‘gila’ (which really were the words used) in any case, they’re too ‘strong’.