# A Pedantic Current Events Rant (Mild but Pointed) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 14, 2003, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pedantic-current-events-rant-mild-but-pointed/218993 "2003-12-14T20:57:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pedantic-current-events-rant-mild-but-pointed/218993/21 "2003-12-16T04:07:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yBeayf \* > \*\*Actually, if I remember my Arabic correctly, the first letter is a `ayn (with the transliteration usually looking vaguely like a superscripted “c”), and isn’t a glottal stop, but a consonant that sounds vaguely like a sheep being choked. \*\* You’ve just described at least four consonants in the Semitic language family… ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pedantic-current-events-rant-mild-but-pointed/218993/22 "2003-12-16T05:25:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TeaElle \* > They sure as hell aren’t Iraqi’s and that construction should only be used if you are speaking about something which belongs to a single Iraqi citizen, i.e. “the Iraqi’s hat.” You are totally wrong. As anyone knows, Iraquois do not wear hats, they wear beach towels due to all the sand in their country. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pedantic-current-events-rant-mild-but-pointed/218993/23 "2003-12-16T07:01:34Z")
Edited **sailor’s** post to close the tag, at his request. Lynn ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pedantic-current-events-rant-mild-but-pointed/218993/24 "2003-12-16T11:28:18Z")
Of course, on the US Most Wanted playing cards set, they spell his name [Saddam Husayn](http://www.clicktogamble.com/cards/Iraq/Ace-Spades.html). Oh, and the FBI Most Wanted list spells Osama bin Laden as [Usama](http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/topten/fugitives/fugitives.htm). Arabic transilteration is a tricky business. Go, as they say, figure. ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pedantic-current-events-rant-mild-but-pointed/218993/25 "2003-12-16T13:36:06Z")
I’m taking limited Arabic as well. As for Osama/Usama, the Arabic pronunciation’s first vowel tends to favor the latter, sounding more like the vowel in “boon” than in “globe.” As to the “i” vs “y” debate, Arabic is a tad like Latin in this regard. The Arabic letter, “yaa’” can be used both as a consonant and a vowel, sort of like the Latin “I.” (Remember, the Latin original spelling of Julius was Iulius, with a pronounced “Y” sound as in the beginning of “you.”) The letter acts as both a consonant and a vowel, depending on where it appears in the sentence, so English translators are left with how to translate that particular letter. Personally, if I were translating the word “Arabia,” it would look like “'Arabiyya,” but that’s just me. The other letter that works this way, with multiple functions as a vowel and a consonant, is the waaw, which acts like the vowel in “boon” and the consonant “w,” depending on the position. And yes, there is no such English equivalent for many of the Arabic letters. The aforementioned 'ayn being the most prominent, though there are others. Though I don’t understand the multiple spellings of Qadaffi (or however it’s spelled.) Arabic has two destinct letters that are translated as “q” and “kh.” As far as I know, the ending of “Iraq” and the beginning of “Khomeini” are quite different letters, one of them being the vaguely “q” sound in the back of the throat, and the other being the sound of the Scottish “loch.” Strange. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pedantic-current-events-rant-mild-but-pointed/218993/26 "2003-12-16T13:44:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jayjay \* > \*\*Nah, we used to have a buncha them I-ra-qui up north, but the gov’ment bought their land and they packed up and moved to Canadia… \*\* Damn! Beat me to it. I think I’ll sioux you for that… ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pedantic-current-events-rant-mild-but-pointed/218993/27 "2003-12-16T14:27:05Z")
> [@](#): > > Though I don’t understand the multiple spellings of Qadaffi (or however it’s spelled.) Arabic has two destinct letters that are translated as “q” and “kh.” I believe that his name begins with a qaf, but in the dialect of Arabic he speaks, it’s pronounced like a “g”, so transliterators are torn between writing it like it’s written, or writing it like the guy pronounces it. ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pedantic-current-events-rant-mild-but-pointed/218993/28 "2003-12-16T15:38:21Z")
Frikken’ dialects. Why can’t these Arabic-speakers decide on one uniform way to speak their common written language. Like the Chinese. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pedantic-current-events-rant-mild-but-pointed/218993/29 "2003-12-16T15:57:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Noone Special \* > \*\*Damn! Beat me to it. I think I’ll sioux you for that… \*\* Then I’d have to pawnee my Jeep cherokee to pay you or I’m up the creek. I knew I should’ve invested in High-da finance in my Ute… ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pedantic-current-events-rant-mild-but-pointed/218993/30 "2003-12-16T16:12:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jayjay \* > \*\*Then I’d have to pawnee my Jeep cherokee to pay you or I’m up the creek. I knew I should’ve invested in High-da finance in my Ute… \*\* You’d think I woulda kota whiff of this coming… Or, as Britney might say, “oops, I Michigan”. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pedantic-current-events-rant-mild-but-pointed/218993/31 "2003-12-16T16:46:51Z")
_whispers to **Noone Special** _ We’re gonna eat Crow and get a black footprint on our butts from the mods if we don’t stop posting jokes in the Pit… ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pedantic-current-events-rant-mild-but-pointed/218993/32 "2003-12-16T19:45:47Z")
(whispers back) But I thought it was OK as long as the jokes were punny! Ouch! OUCH!! OK, OK I’ll stop!!! Just stop kicking me! Please! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pedantic-current-events-rant-mild-but-pointed/218993.md?page=1)