# Al Who? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 5, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-who/580877 "2011-05-05T21:03:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-who/580877/1 "2011-05-05T21:03:04Z")
How do you spell the evilest, vilest, puppykickingest organization known to contemporary mankind? Also, how do you pronounce it? Me: Spell - Al Qaida Pronounce - ahl kuydah ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-who/580877/2 "2011-05-05T21:11:32Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > How do you spell the evilest, vilest, puppykickingest organization known to contemporary mankind? > > Also, how do you pronounce it? > > Me: > Spell - Al Qaida > Pronounce - ahl kuydah You misspelled Republican. I figure I’d go ahead and beat someone to the punch. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![YaraMateo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/58f4c7/32.png) [@YaraMateo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaraMateo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-who/580877/3 "2011-05-05T21:22:09Z")
I spell it Al Qaeda, because I’ve seen it that way in the media. How do they spell it? I suppose they use the arabic symbols. I say it Al Ki-da. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-who/580877/4 "2011-05-05T21:23:39Z")
Al Qaeda Al-Kay-Da ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-who/580877/5 "2011-05-05T21:23:44Z")
Al Qaida Al Ka(short pause)-(I sound like “in”)-duh ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-who/580877/6 "2011-05-05T22:09:15Z")
I’ve only seen Al Qaeda. I have no problem saying All KYE-duh when I hear about it, but, when I see it, I always think al KAY-duh. I find it odd to anglicize the spelling to one that doesn’t follow English pronunciation rules. As far as I can tell, it’s not even Al KAHeh-duh, which would justify using an E instead of at least an I. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-who/580877/7 "2011-05-06T09:24:20Z")
[Al Kader](http://www.alkadershriners.org/). ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-who/580877/8 "2011-05-06T16:46:55Z")
You left off Al Gore ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-who/580877/9 "2011-05-07T04:14:22Z")
> [@YaraMateo](#): > > How do they spell it? I suppose they use the arabic symbols. القاعدة‎ [ALQA"DE](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Arabic_Technical_Transliteration_System) The Q is pronounced very far in the back of the throat–you almost swallow it The " also originates in the back of the throat and resembles a vocalized strangle Obviously, neither sound is present in most European-based languages so we don’t have easily recognized symbols for them. For that reason you get different spellings based either on how you heard a native say it or a non-Arab say it. Same reason there are a hundred different ways to spell the Lybian heffe’s name. And it doesn’t help that the Q is pronounced as stated above or as a G (as in goat-herder) depending on the local dialect. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-who/580877/10 "2011-05-07T04:51:56Z")
S-h-a-r-p-t-o-n ---
**Author:** ![YaraMateo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/58f4c7/32.png) [@YaraMateo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaraMateo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-who/580877/11 "2011-05-07T07:04:30Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > القاعدة‎ > [ALQA"DE](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Arabic_Technical_Transliteration_System) > > The Q is pronounced very far in the back of the throat–you almost swallow it > The " also originates in the back of the throat and resembles a vocalized strangle > > Obviously, neither sound is present in most European-based languages so we don’t have easily recognized symbols for them. For that reason you get different spellings based either on how you heard a native say it or a non-Arab say it. > > Same reason there are a hundred different ways to spell the Lybian heffe’s name. And it doesn’t help that the Q is pronounced as stated above or as a G (as in goat-herder) depending on the local dialect. Thanks for posting this and explaining. I think Arabic is such a beautiful language. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-who/580877/12 "2011-05-09T02:11:22Z")
> [@YaraMateo](#): > > Thanks for posting this and explaining. I think Arabic is such a beautiful language. Well, I won’t argue aesthetics with you, but mechanically it is quite fascinating.