DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- A lawyer in Dubai told a court his client did not insult a telecom worker because the f-word is not an insult in his native Canada.

Attorney Uday al-Kazwini told the court his client, a 43-year-old man from Canada, admits using the phrase "[expletive] off" when speaking to the 29-year-old client services worker for the Etisalat telecommunications company, but the phrase was not meant to be an insult, Gulf News reported Monday.


"My client is a Canadian citizen and [expletive] off is not an insult in Canada ... but [expletive] you is a curse and an insult. [Expletive] off is commonly used when a person expresses themselves metaphorically and asks another person, who angered them, to walk away," the lawyer told Dubai Misdemeanor Court.

"The Egyptian claimant alleged that my client told him [expletive] you. Well [expletive] you is a curse but my client did not use that term. The defendant admitted to prosecutors that he said [expletive] off and he meant to ask the claimant to leave him alone and walk away after the two indulged in a heated argument," al-Kazwini said.

The defendant told the court he became frustrated with the worker's attitude when he visited the Etisalat counter at Mirdif City Center to complain about not receiving his bills.

The trial on the misdemeanor insulting charge is ongoing.