LISTEN UP: It's Usama Bin Laden, not Osama. Bushies changed the spelling

[blm]

after 9-11 because they SAID that they didn't like Bin Laden's name starting with USA.

The way these thugs work they likely had Obama on their radar screen years ago and decided to make his name sound like the name of the enemy.

There is no OSAMA BIN LADEN.

It's USAMA BIN LADEN. Use it. Don't spread Bushit.

[Magrittes Pipe]

1. It's transliterated from Arabic.

So it is actually neither.

[dryan]

8. Have seen it both ways.

This is something to get upset over!?

[blm]

20. Not upset, but always cognizant of motive.

The Repubs have mastered most of the propaganda tricks.

[TahitiNut]

21. Yes, it's actually ...

أسامة بن لادن

... aka Sheikh Usamah bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Ladin

Osama's name can be transliterated in several ways, including Usama bin Laden (as used by the FBI, the BBC, and FOX News, among others) Ussamah Bin Ladin, Oussama Ben Laden; also ibn Laden and Binladen. As with other Arabic names, it is incorrect to use "bin Laden" as though it was a Western surname (even though some members of his family do this when dealing with Westerners). It means "son of Laden." He should be referred to either as "Osama" or "Osama bin Laden." Osama has several aliases, including The Prince, The Emir, Abu Abdallah, Mujahid Shaykh, Hajj, and The Director.
http://www.fact-index.com/o/os/osama_bin_laden_1.html

[LTR]

2. FOX calls him Usama

And Arabic words are spelled phonetically when translated to English, so either spelling could be correct.

I believe most of the media has used "Osama" since the 90s.

[noonwitch]

7. The British media use Usama

Both in writing and pronunciation.

[blm]

10. Same with most foreign newspapers.

.

[JohnKleeb]

11. makes sense to me

Thanks for clearing it up, Ive heard it used both ways.

[Sparkly]

3. I recall "Usama" all through the Clinton years.

I'd bet searching under "Usama" would find many older articles and such.

[stopbush]

4. They'll switch back to Usama as soon as they realize they can smear

Kerry with it:

USA-MA, as in: USA, Massachusetts.

[Sparrow]

5. actually its Osman

Tim Osman.

[JohnKleeb]

6. I thought I remember seeing "Osama" back in '98

when I first heard of him. Will keep that in mind now though blm, thanks.

[jayfish]

9. They Must Have Thought Was Scottish.

:shrug:

Jay

[TlalocW]

12. Actually...

His name is Steve. Steve Bin Laden. They just gave him an Arab-sounding first name.

TlalocW

[Ravenseye]

14. LOL

Just like they changed W's name from Sheldon to George because American wouldn't vote for some geek named Sheldon Bush.

Veto that bill...Sheldon...

How do you feel about healthcare....Sheldon...

We need to launch the bomb...Sheldon...

[merh]

23. Was his name really Sheldon???? hahahhaha

Like Trent Lott's name is actually "Chester Trent Lott"!

[AntiCoup2K4]

26. Sheldon is an old family name, so it's certainly possible

...though I never heard that one before.

The "S" in Grand-Nazi Prescott S. Bush was "Sheldon", I believe.

[thebigidea]

16. I could have sworn it was "Dudley Bin Laden," but what do I know?

[Ravenseye]

13. Pronunciation Wise...

I think Usama is probably closer. The vowel usage with long and short vowels combined with context situations changes pronunciations a great deal. Think of Qadafi. People spelled that hundreds of ways. If they were more of the Egyptian Arabic bent it was Gadafi, because they pronounce it that way. Others it's more of a Kh hard raspy sound so it went Khadafi. some just can't do that raspy air sound so it just was Kadafi.

With Osama/Usama though it's a bit clearer. As far as I know there are no alternate pronunciations for it (and let me know if I'm wrong, just working of a couple years of college Arabic) but his name is spelled with the long O vowel followed by a 'Seen' which is the letter S for us. Therefore it'd be Usama or even Oosama. Osama is generally pronounced wrong more like Oh-sama. So if it's Oo-sama then it'd probably be more correctly pronounced as Usama.

Also I highly doubt the Bushies knew who Obama was a couple years ago.

[blm]

19. Well, the Bushies have a track record of rooting out opponents WAYYY ahead

of the American public.

In the Hunting of the President, Conason reported that Bush thugs went scouring the country tracking possible opponents for Bush Sr. shortly after his inauguration in Jan 89. The thugs doing the tracking were Atwater, Rove and W. Bill Clinton was one of those targeted. Clinton wouldn't step into any of their traps because he was missing the greed trait.

I have no doubt the Koch Brothers purposefully went after Vermont Yankee to entrap Howard Dean with some sort of incriminating document because most knew back in 97 he wanted to run for president. That's how they operate. You think they STOPPED their ploys after Clinton?

[Caution]

15. like any other name transliterated from Arabic

it's arbitrary. Usama, Osama, it doesnt really make a difference one way or the other.

http://www.fact-index.com/o/os/osama_bin_laden_1.html

[Bluebear]

17. Whatever. bin Laden is TOTALLY IRRELEVANT!

That's right! Our President told us so! He really is not a concern to us anymore, we have him on the run and smoked him out of his hole and Saddam was more dangerous. Wasn't he?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

18. I grew up thinking the capital of China was called 'Peking'

that's what happens when you translate from one language to another.

[medeak]

22. It was bugging me too

might be petty...but if Al Jazeera in English uses Usama..that's good enough for me.

[donhakman]

25. this is the official spelling (authentic signature)

[hel]

24. It's actually Usama Bin Ladin

not Laden, either. And it's Abu Garib (pronounced Guh-rib) prison, not Abu Ghraib. I don't understand where the "Ghraib" even came from.

[giant_robot]

27. IMO, it's a pretty minor point

to the best of my knowledge there is no standard way to transliterate Arabic into English (I have to think back 12 years to when I was an Arabic linguist in the military, but I'm pretty sure). What really irks me is the way people pronounce "al Qaieda". True, it contains two consonants which do not appear in the English language, but we can come a hell of a lot closer than "al-kai-duh" without learning Arabic.

Phew! Been waiting a long time to get that peeve off my chest!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

28. Are you talking about Osama Bin Laden?

[KoKo]

29. What are you talking about blm! ????

:crazy: Who cares at this point? Osama, Usma...Ubama Obama...SaddamaUsamma...UsamaSadamma....

whatever....It's all Bush's Enemy List...and most Americans can't keep the names straight anyways. Sheesh...;-)