Ever notice that when a word has an Arabic origin, the English-speaking
media is never on the same page as how to spell the same words?
A few examples that I've seen...
Al-Qaeda/Al-Qaida/Al-Quida/Quaida/Quaeda
Ghaddafi/Ghadaffi/Qadaffi (and on a completely unrelated aside, I still
want to know why---if this guy is the supreme ruler of Libya----is he
only a Colonel.
Shouldn't he be a general or a marshal or something like that?)
Mouqtada al Sadr/Muntada Al-Sadr
I could go on, but I think you get the gist. What's the deal here? Why
can't they get on the same page about the spelling? Highly annoying.
With everyone coming up with their own versions, that undoubtedly
sprung from the desire to be multicultural in extremis, it's hard to
know which one is right. This inconsistency drives the 7th Grade
Spelling Bee Champ in me NUTS!
Anyway this is just another example, my devoted Cake Eater readers, of
what it's like to be inside my brain.