Will Arabs eventually take over the United States?

[Tom Scud]

Originally Posted by 42fish

No, no. The Chinese are wily and inscrutable. The Jews like watermelon and have natural rhythm. Wait, that's not right. Damn the sloppy editing in my copy of Xenophobia for Dummies!

Aaargh! Singular! The Chinaman is wily and inscrutable. The Jew is... whatever it is that he is. And so on. For Dummies indeed.

[Acsenray]

Originally Posted by naita

Ah! Doesn't work well together with a named country though. "Bum-fuck Egypt, Norway" sounds more like a roadtrip porn movie

"BFE name of a place" is a common construction in colloquial American speech. I suppose "Bum-fuck Norway" would work better.

[Tom Scud]

Originally Posted by Ibn Warraq

How do you know when he was referring to "Al Quaeda" that he was referring to the terrorist organization.

Al Quaeda means "the base" in Arabic and also is the title of Arabic translations of Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead".

Perhaps he was referring to the growing influence and popularity of Ayn Rand and the legions of Randroids which threaten to take over the US.

Also, "Al Quaeda" is the Arabic translation of Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" so it's possible he was talking about the timeless popularity and influence of Isaac Asimov's books which even decades later still hold up and continue to inspire generations of fans and new writers.

I want to go back in time and shoot whatever moron thought "q" was a good transliteration for the Arabic letter "qaaf". Fucking extraneous u's.

[dngnb8]

Originally Posted by Tom Scud

I want to go back in time and shoot whatever moron thought "q" was a good transliteration for the Arabic letter "qaaf". Fucking extraneous u's.

Qwit your complaining. Or should I say, less QQ please.....

[Darth Panda]

We need to be more concerned with coyotes.

[Attack from the 3rd dimension]

Quyotes

[Kimstu]

Originally Posted by Tom Scud

I want to go back in time and shoot whatever moron thought "q" was a good transliteration for the Arabic letter "qaaf". Fucking extraneous u's.

To be fair, though, the roman letter "q", like the archaic Greek "qoppa" and the Hebrew "qof", is the most closely related palaeographically to Arabic "qaaf". All of them are descended from the same character in the ancient Phoenician alphabet.

Just because the Romans decided that they weren't going to use "q" except in the "qu" digraph to represent the "kw" sound doesn't mean that we shouldn't use "q" by itself as the historically appropriate transliteration of qaaf/qof/qoppa.

[Darth Panda]

Qwat?

[Marley23]

Originally Posted by Attack from the 3rd dimension

Quyotes

Al-Quyote does conjure up the image of Osama as Wile E.

[Frostillicus]

If only the US had an amendment to the Constitution that prohibited the establishment of a national religion...

That would be awesome!

[Attack from the 3rd dimension]

Originally Posted by Marley23

Al-Quyote does conjure up the image of Osama as Wile E.

Now I want Uil-e-Quyote as a Dopername.

[Tom Scud]

Originally Posted by Attack from the 3rd dimension

Now I want Uil-e-Quyote as a Dopername.

Wa'el ul-Quyote.

[Smeghead]

Originally Posted by Attack from the 3rd dimension

Now I want Uil-e-Quyote as a Dopername.

He orders a lot from Al'qme.

[Marley23]

Originally Posted by Smeghead

He orders a lot from Al'qme.

At long last, I will eat that Road Runner (inshallah)!

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

5 to 1 that mkeith135@gmail.com never returns, or returns only to call us all Communists & Traitors.

[Czarcasm]

Originally Posted by Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor

5 to 1 that mkeith135@gmail.com never returns, or returns only to call us all Communists & Traitors.

I was going to contact him to see if he had anything to say...but he didn't put his email address in his profile.

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

Originally Posted by Czarcasm

I was going to contact him to see if he had anything to say...but he didn't put his email address in his profile.

Snerk.

[Attack from the 3rd dimension]

Originally Posted by Tom Scud

Wa'el ul-Quyote.

That. That's what I want.

[Johanna]

Originally Posted by BrainGlutton

You'd think Arabic would have an actual word for "fountainhead." The Arabs do seem to like their fountains.

The actual Arabic word for fountainhead is منبع manba‘ (a noun of place from the verbal root meaning 'to well up', literally 'a place where water wells up').

I'm at a loss as to why the translator or publisher would render it as qā‘idah, which means 'base'; its derivation as a participle of the verbal root meaning 'to sit' makes it literally 'that which sits'. Ironically, the essentially same word is used in the Qur’an to mean combat slackers, those who sit at home when they're supposed to be going out and fighting.

As for the Foundation Trilogy, I think qā‘idah is nearer in meaning, though not the best translation; foundation in the sense that Asimov used it, an organization intended to serve a long-term goal, is mu’assasah.

I approve of the use of the letter Q to transliterate Arabic qāf, because it serves as a lint trap for morons when they try to stick an unwarranted U after it.

[DukemNukem]

He makes 4-5 posts and every single person ridicules what he wrote. Sure what he wrote was inappropriate and misinformed however I feel that much of what has been written in all 4 pages was unnecessary although very funny.

[Bridget Burke]

Originally Posted by Johanna

....I approve of the use of the letter Q to transliterate Arabic qāf, because it serves as a lint trap for morons when they try to stick an unwarranted U after it.

Let me further direct the thread drift away from its silly premise. In a recent episode of Game of Thrones, Dany (hottie Mother of Dragons) tried to gain her ragtag band admittance to the great city of Qarth. Except she misprounced it: Quarth.

She was corrected...

[Grey]

Originally Posted by DukemNukem

He makes 4-5 posts and every single person ridicules what he wrote. Sure what he wrote was inappropriate and misinformed however I feel that much of what has been written in all 4 pages was unnecessary although very funny.

Unnecessary snark is one of the things we do best.

[Gyrate]

Originally Posted by DukemNukem

He makes 4-5 posts and every single person ridicules what he wrote. Sure what he wrote was inappropriate and misinformed however I feel that much of what has been written in all 4 pages was unnecessary although very funny.

Actually nine or so, all of which are ridiculous. And the appropriate response to ridiculous things is generally ridicule.

But let's have a look at what he said:

Originally Posted by mkeith135@gmail.com

I'm worried about the state of the world regarding Sharia Law. Will the United States eventually be submitted to Sharia Law? The extreme liberals are so afraid of offending them that they let some U.S. courts consider it. The Muslims are very cunning and coy. They know how to play the I just want my religious freedom card. I wonder if in 20-30 years the women will be wearing berkas and jahibs (not sure of the spelling but it's the head and face covering). America needs to wake up! If U.S. women are as liberated as they say they are, they will have no rights if this law is passed. They'll submit to the men. What do all of you think? Will if be in our lifetime in the next 20-30 years or (cringe) sooner like 10-12?

So we start off with hyperbolic panic as a premise, based on some blatantly incorrect assumptions. And yet the first page of this thread has several factual responses to them. But the OP doesn't seem to take kindly to criticism:

Originally Posted by Marley23

There's never going to be Sharia law in the U.S., and please educate yourself on the difference between Muslims and Arabs.

Originally Posted by mkeith135@gmail.com

I do know the difference!

...which is then proved false. Attempts to point out the hyperbole are not taken lightly:

Originally Posted by mkeith135@gmail.com

How about if they take away your rights as a pompous smart alec?

Originally Posted by mkeith135@gmail.com

Hey smart alec! FYI I'm not one of those religious nut, but I"ll bet you'll be leading the pack of muslims in Al Kaeda!

Originally Posted by mkeith135@gmail.com

Laugh it up buddy! You're underestimating th power of Al-Quada.

Originally Posted by mkeith135@gmail.com

Yeah! Talk to me when you have no freedom. My heart will be bleeding for you!

He does attempt another go at presenting an actual argument but again, it's low on facts:

Originally Posted by mkeith135@gmail.com

I"ll give you a hint--They populate more babies than we do. our fertility rate is going down! We won't catch up on birth rates!

And further criticism is likewise dismissed:

Originally Posted by mkeith135@gmail.com

Why do you feel so threatened by an opinion other than your own? And you call yourself a liberal?

On top of all that, we've been down this road before - look up Valteron threads sometime. The spittle-spraying hysterical fear that Muslims will somehow sneak into our countries, secretly breed at an astonishing rate until they're the majority, and then impose Saudi Arabia-style laws upon the helpless populace is not merely a minor disagreement of opinion, it requires a full disconnect of any critical thinking functions to swallow.

The OP presented an argument based on ignorance. We are a board dedicated to fighting ignorance. If occasionally we find it easier to just nuke the site from orbit it's only because we've seen how these things go already and are trying to save ourselves the time.

And I'm guessing that since the OP hasn't come back since the last word from Estragon there, this thread is headed for lockdown anyway.

[Darth Panda]

Originally Posted by Gyrate

the appropriate response to ridiculous things is generally ridicule.

Do you you have some qind of cite for that? It sounds wrong.

[Steve MB]

Originally Posted by DukemNukem

He makes 4-5 posts and every single person ridicules what he wrote. Sure what he wrote was inappropriate and misinformed however I feel that much of what has been written in all 4 pages was unnecessary although very funny.

In fact, quite a few posts have seriously addressed his argument (such as it is). I'd estimate that he's getting about 30% serious, 70% mock, and that the 30% is rather more than the OP really deserves.

[Muffin]

mkeith135@gmail.com, we already know that the Republicans elected a muslim loving homo. Since then, the Democrats elected someone who has been proven to not be a muslim or a homo. You will agree, then, that the USA has changed direction and is moving away from rather than toward shariah law, and that the very best thing an American can do to avoid the muslims from taking over again is to re-elect the Democrat President.

[jeturgeon]

Originally Posted by mkeith135@gmail.com

I'm worried about the state of the world regarding Sharia Law. Will the United States eventually be submitted to Sharia Law? The extreme liberals are so afraid of offending them that they let some U.S. courts consider it. The Muslims are very cunning and coy. They know how to play the I just want my religious freedom card. I wonder if in 20-30 years the women will be wearing berkas and jahibs (not sure of the spelling but it's the head and face covering). America needs to wake up! If U.S. women are as liberated as they say they are, they will have no rights if this law is passed. They'll submit to the men. What do all of you think? Will if be in our lifetime in the next 20-30 years or (cringe) sooner like 10-12?

Are you a tad drunker than I am right now, or completely out of you mind?

[tomndebb]

Originally Posted by jeturgeon

Are you a tad drunker than I am right now, or completely out of you mind?

Address the argument or take it to The BBQ Pit. Do not post personal insults in Great Debates.

[ /Moderating ]

[Marley23]

The OP has not shown any interest in continuing this thread over the last few days, and since the discussion has gone so far off track, it's not worth the effort to continually try to keep people from breaking the rules. So I'm finally closing this.