# Does it annoy you when people just say "Saudi" to refer to the country? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 14, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-it-annoy-you-when-people-just-say-saudi-to-refer-to-the-country/647204 "2013-01-14T19:02:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-it-annoy-you-when-people-just-say-saudi-to-refer-to-the-country/647204/41 "2013-01-25T19:41:53Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > It annoys me and I can’t really put my finger on why. > > I think it is because I have only ever heard it from people that head over there on holiday. The way they come back from there, acting as if they are so familiar with the place and the culture there now that it is an intimate extension of their personal space. Correct me If I’m being obtuse, but when I worked there (mid-80’s) there was no such thing as ‘heading over there for a holiday’. For non-residents there were two kinds of visas, business/employment or Hajj - (for non-muslims business/employment only). I had to fly to NYC and spend two days in the KSA Embassy being processed to get a work visa. Tourist visa? No such thing then, but situations may have changed radically since then. N.B. It was considered very bad form to refer to the ‘Persian Gulf’ there - ‘Arabian Gulf’, if you please. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-it-annoy-you-when-people-just-say-saudi-to-refer-to-the-country/647204/42 "2013-01-25T20:07:24Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > It annoys me and I can’t really put my finger on why. > > I think it is because I have only ever heard it from people that head over there on holiday. The way they come back from there, acting as if they are so familiar with the place and the culture there now that it is an intimate extension of their personal space. Correct me If I’m being obtuse, but when I worked there (mid-80’s) there was no such thing as ‘heading over there for a holiday’. For non-residents there were two kinds of visas, business/employment or Hajj - (for non-muslims business/employment only). I had to fly to NYC and spend two days in the KSA Embassy being processed to get a work visa. Tourist visa? No such thing then, but situations may have changed radically since then. N.B. It was considered very bad form to refer to the ‘Persian Gulf’ there - ‘Arabian Gulf’, if you please. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-it-annoy-you-when-people-just-say-saudi-to-refer-to-the-country/647204/43 "2013-01-25T20:17:42Z")
I find it odd when students here in Las Vegas say they are driving over to “Cali” for the weekend…I like to irritate them and say I used to live in “Fornia…the other side of Cali”. I used to know a lot of teachers who would work in Saudi Arabia (tons of money to be made back in the day) and they would always say, “When I worked in Saudi…” or “I have to go back to Saudi…” and I don’t think they meant it as an insult - it was just like saying I have to go back to “the States” or we are going to visit “Britain”. Short version, faster to say. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-it-annoy-you-when-people-just-say-saudi-to-refer-to-the-country/647204/44 "2013-01-25T20:23:19Z")
Huh. Never thought anyone else bothered to let it bother them like I do… ---
**Author:** ![colander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@colander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colander)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-it-annoy-you-when-people-just-say-saudi-to-refer-to-the-country/647204/45 "2013-01-25T20:31:28Z")
> [@Saraya](#): > > Nope, doesn’t even bother me when they just say ‘towels’ or a more derogative extended version. Just wanted to make sure nobody missed this pearl of wisdom. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-it-annoy-you-when-people-just-say-saudi-to-refer-to-the-country/647204/46 "2013-01-26T02:08:19Z")
When we lived there (11years) most expats called it Saudi or KSA. It used to bother me when we were back in the States, when other people called it Saudi. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-it-annoy-you-when-people-just-say-saudi-to-refer-to-the-country/647204/47 "2013-01-26T03:40:15Z")
**Does it annoy you when people just say “Saudi” to refer to the country?** Well, those are the facts on the ground. You can’t just throw people under the bus over a word. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-it-annoy-you-when-people-just-say-saudi-to-refer-to-the-country/647204/48 "2013-01-26T14:25:48Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > Sounds like returning soldier shorthand. It precedes the first Gulf War by a while. I heard it a lot when I was in middle and high school from people whose parents had worked for Aramco in Saudi Arabia. You could throw a stick in suburban Houston in the 80s and easily hit someone’s parents who had worked in Saudi Arabia for Aramco. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-it-annoy-you-when-people-just-say-saudi-to-refer-to-the-country/647204.md?page=2)