What does "Reem" mean?

So you are a fan of the reality TV show The Only Way Is Essex (popularly called “TOWIE”) and want to desperately know what “Reem” actually means? Reem has often been used by Joey Essex to describe his hair. You have asked your neighbours, friends, everyone in office and are scratching your head for the answer! Like everyone else in the U.K. you finally hit the internet and type “Reem definition” or “what does Reem mean” and voila, you have reached this blog.  You have to suffer no longer mate as this post along with the detailed feedback from readers in the Comments section (I highly recommend you read all the comments)  is arguably your single best resource to know everything about the word “Reem”. At the least it provides a starting point for fans of TOWIE.

- Reem – Joining vajazzle, ohshatuuuup and jel in the Essex dictionary, we know have the word reem. Invented inside the mysterious empty void that is Joey Essex’s brain, we’re not entirely clear what the term means, but apparently it’s a phrase of endearment. It may seem idiotic right now (and it is), but trust us, you’ll all be saying it in a couple of months’ time. As Joey Essex so poetically put on his Twitter account today, “Look reem… smell reem… be reem… Reem.”

TOWIE is UK’s answer to  the “The Hills” or “Jersey Shore” and has gone insane on Social Media. The popularity among teenagers in Britain is really out of control prompting social commentators to research the phenomenon. Check out British blogger Ashe’s post on the same on ITBLOKE. Like what happens in modern day pop culture, Joey’s usage of the word “REEM”  has gone viral! The slang usage is apparently derived from Swedish and is used to describe an incredibly sexy and physically talented individual. A “reem” is always envied and desired by others who are not able to reach “reem status”.  This is now used like an adjective and to summarize the pop-culture meaning today in a single word, “reem” means “sexy”. Check the Joey Essex Facebook update. There is even a Facebook Community Page for the Joey Essex derived usage of the word Reem.

The show’s vocabulary has even spawned this amazing guide called 100% Essex: Doing It the Essex Way 

Here’s the summary to the guide book from Amazon:

There’s only one Essex, England, and due to the phenomenal popularity of the hit reality-show The Only Way is Essex, the county has transformed from somewhere to be scoffed at to somewhere to be celebrated. This hilarious book does just that! Crammed full of bling, banter, Essex “birds and blokes,” it champions the Essex way of life as shown on screen, seamlessly mixing tongue-in-cheek guides with anecdotes, jokes and quotes about Essex, as well as tricks and tips on how to act 100% Essex. Includes unmissable chapters on: love life—pick-up lines, first date etiquette, how to marry well in Essex; looking good—the “art” of fake tanning, beauty cheats, top-ten things you might find in an Essex girl’s Louis Vuitton; and how to speak in Essex. This is the must-have handbook for all fans of the show and aspiring Essex girls and boys alike.

100% Essex: Doing It the Essex Way by Wendy Roby

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But what is the TRADITIONAL meaning of the word “Reem”, which is used as a first name by many (including myself)?

Many people have asked me what my name actually means…to which I have had no clear answer! While “Reem”is used as a female name in the Arab world (for ex: Reem Acra), among the Dutch speaking people  its used as a family name (Ex: van Reem) and in Israel for males (ex:  Reem Aminoach) as well.  As one reader pointed out it is a family name or surname in Dutch, and surnames  are historically taken after a male patriarch in most societies. This confounds the matter even more.

Finally, after hours of searching & reading, the mysterious meaning of the semitic word “Reem” has been explained…that too in the most unexpected of places.

Read this early 19th Century report of a curious event which took place in Glasgow City published in the Glasgow Argus newspaper:

Glasgow Argus
MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 7, 1835

…Our visitor is of ancient lineage, though we are by no means certain that it can be traced quite so far back as his flatterers have attempted to do. Some have represented him as the lineal descendant of the Reem , of whom mention is made in the Books of Number and Deuteronomy, in the Psalms, in Job, and in Isaiah. The genealogy is not very clearly made out. In the kindred dialect of the Arabic, Rem denotes an antelope. Of course this does not prove that the Hebrew Reem was an antelope; for only from scientific zoologists can we expect critical accuracy in the matter of names, and we know well the carelessness with which colonists apply the names of the beasts and birds of their fatherland to those which they find in their new domicile. On the other hand, the text of the Septuagint favours the identity of the Reem with the rhinoceros, by translating it monoceros . The Ethiopic translation of the Scriptures renders it Arwe Harish , the names of the rhinoceros; this, however, is of little consequence, as it seems now to be admitted that that translation was made from the Septuagint. This latter, however, was effected before the birth of our Saviour, by Jews resident in Egypt, at a time when the rhinoceros was frequently exhibited there as a part of the royal pomp of the Ptolemies.

The account given of the form and habits of the Reem , in the sacred books, are far too slender to add anything satisfactory to this vague guess-work. In one passage it seems implied that the Reem was abundant on the north-east frontier of the Israelites, from Anti-Lebanon towards Bozrah. In “Job” the strength of the animal, and the impossibility of making it available in agricultural labour, is hinted at. The elevation of the horn is always the most prominent, if indeed not the only feature alluded to. In the twenty-second Psalm, it would almost seem, from the juxtaposition, that the “shooting of the lip” was the image which raised up the Reem in the poet’s imagination. Altogether, these combined hints produce a very faint and indistinct picture of the animal…

Read more of the Indian Rhino’s visit to the UK over here:
Rhino in Glasgow

Here’s an alternative definitions for “Reem” where scholars say it translates to a “wild ox” and not “rhinoceros or unicorn”. Click here: Unicorns and the KJV

In the Arab world, “Reem” is mistakenly understood to mean  ”gazelles” or “pure white antelopes”  or ” young deers” or  ”white rabbits” and even “seaweed formed on ocean surface” depending on who you speak to. This confusion is not surprising as lots of Arabic words have digressed from their original Semitic roots. Take for example the famous case of the word  ”‘houris” which has been wrongly understood for centuries as “doe -eyed fair maidens” when they actually mean “white raisins of crystal clarity”.  (Source: The Guardian)

Interestingly, “REEM” is also the name of two Intelligent Humanoid Robots created by PAL ROBOTICS.

Another famous “Reem” is  Alistair “The Reem” Overeem a Dutch Mixed Martial Artist and kickboxer. “The Reem” made history by being the only fighter in combat sports to hold a world title in both MMA and in K-1 kickboxing at the same time.

a Swedish word used to describe an incredibly sexy, vulgar and physically talented individual. A reem is always envied and desired by others who are not able to reach reem status as well as those who are.

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