# ISIS or ISIL? or something else? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 12, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-or-isil-or-something-else/698317 "2014-09-12T17:35:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jerseymule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jerseymule/32/3155_2.png) [@jerseymule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerseymule)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-or-isil-or-something-else/698317/1 "2014-09-12T17:35:37Z")
Previous thread (began to get a little silly): [(last post about two months ago)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=726755) I didn’t make a poll, but I’ve heard at least three ways of pronouncing it as an acronym. “EYE-sis” or “EYE-sill” (long “I”) or “ISS-ill” (Susan Rice said it this way, rhyming with “bliss” not “ice”). I know there are other things to call it, like “Islamic State” and so forth. But why do NPR and other news outlets want to call it something different from what Obama and other government types are calling it? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-or-isil-or-something-else/698317/2 "2014-09-12T18:06:59Z")
I heard [this story](http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/09/12/347711170/isis-isil-or-islamic-state-whats-in-a-name) on NPR this morning, explaining what ISIS means vs ISIL. and why “they” want people to call them the Islamic State (because it makes them sound like the one, single, Islamic state). ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-or-isil-or-something-else/698317/3 "2014-09-12T18:12:54Z")
ISIS stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ISIL stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Levant is a catchall term for the portion of land that includes Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Why there are two different terms? Because the actual name is Al-Dawla Al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham. Some chose to translate al-sham as Syria and came up with the acronym ISIS. Others translated it as Levant and got ISIL. It’s not really any different than that some transliteration systems tell you Beijing is the capital of China and another calls it Peking. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-or-isil-or-something-else/698317/4 "2014-09-13T19:06:12Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > ISIS stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria > ISIL stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant > > Levant is a catchall term for the portion of land that includes Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. > > Why there are two different terms? Because the actual name is Al-Dawla Al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham. > > Some chose to translate al-sham as Syria and came up with the acronym ISIS. Others translated it as Levant and got ISIL. Thanks! That clears it up succinctly. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-or-isil-or-something-else/698317/5 "2014-09-13T19:40:13Z")
“Gaddafi.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-or-isil-or-something-else/698317/6 "2014-09-13T20:49:44Z")
IMHO ISIS is better. ISIL is giving them legitimacy that they do not deserve by giving them dominion over a region that they do not currently inhabit, have no links to, but just _want to_ capture. Meanwhile they are all over the place in Iraq and Syria. I said it in another thread, but I like the idea of these fundamentalists using the name of a pagan, female god as their acronym. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-or-isil-or-something-else/698317/7 "2014-09-13T21:04:35Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Some chose to translate al-sham as Syria and came up with the acronym ISIS. Others translated it as Levant and got ISIL. It’s not really any different than that some transliteration systems tell you Beijing is the capital of China and another calls it Peking. But Peking and Beijing refer to the exact same area. Syria and The Levant do not, so I’m not seeing it as the same thing at all. Unless by “Syria” you mean “Greater Syria” which could be synonymous with The Levant, but doesn’t need to be. I suggest we call them TFBWBTA. Those Fucking Bastards Who Beheaded Two Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-or-isil-or-something-else/698317/8 "2014-09-13T21:12:04Z")
Around here. they’re just referred to by their Arabic acronym,\*\* Da’esh.\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-or-isil-or-something-else/698317/9 "2014-09-13T21:58:25Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > But Peking and Beijing refer to the exact same area. Syria and The Levant do not, so I’m not seeing it as the same thing at all. Unless by “Syria” you mean “Greater Syria” which could be synonymous with The Levant, but doesn’t need to be. They make that point in the NPR story to which I linked. The Syria referred to in the name ISIS is not the present-day country, but greater Syria. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-or-isil-or-something-else/698317/10 "2014-09-13T22:39:33Z")
And Greater Syria was a popular name mostly used in reference to pan-Syrian **secularists**. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-or-isil-or-something-else/698317/11 "2014-09-14T11:28:48Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I said it in another thread, but I like the idea of these fundamentalists using the name of a pagan, female god as their acronym. Especially one whose day job is a sexy female teacher. (The 70s TV show is one of my earliest memories). ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isis-or-isil-or-something-else/698317/12 "2014-09-15T04:30:25Z")
The NBC chief foreign correspondent was on the Rachel Maddow Show a little while back, and he said NBC picked ISIS over ISIL for no reason other than it being easier to say.