(no subject)

[baratron]

Still nothing interesting going on in my life. Still in pain, though not as badly. Although I did feel faint and nauseous on the way home this evening, just from the back pain. Blah.

I have some thoughts about various of the current news events, but they are too unformed to go out in public just yet. I am wondering, though... why does the press insist on calling Saddam Hussein "Saddam"? Do Iraqi names go with the surname first, like Korean? Or are we supposed to think he sits around saying "George and Tony are really pissing me off"?

Comments

[schillerium.livejournal.com]

Saddam is his surname, yes.

Hussein is too common

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

I have worked with two people whose surname sounded the same as Hussein, so I guess the reason is that they don't want to offend a large number of British Muslims. (This may be subconscious rather than a conscious decision).

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Hussein certainly is a common name - it's what Richard's friend that he goes paintballing with is called. (Sometimes shortened to "Huss" in his case, which sounds a bit daft to me). I certainly don't think it's a conscious decision, though.

[purplerabbits.livejournal.com]

Yes, Iraqui names are the reverse of ours, and the funny thing is that much of the UK press doesn't know this and thinks it's being rude...

[johnckirk.livejournal.com]

I think this is a sign that times have changed in the last 50 years. Back during the second world war, newscasters would say "Mr Hitler did xyz", i.e. they would be polite about him. Nowadays, papers (particularly tabloids) tend to go with whatever sounds good, e.g. "Up yours Delors!" (surname of Jacques Delors), or "Clobber Slobba!" (forename of Slobodan Milosevich). It's not specifically a hostile thing though - I saw a headline in one of todays' papers that said "No, Tony!" or similar to refer to the PM.

It's something I always felt faintly ashamed of during the various "Big Brother" runs - I'd see a headline like "Paul: I'll wait for Helen", and know who they meant, without any surnames involved, despite not actually watching the program.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Yes - a lot of this has been since "Call me Tony" Blair became Prime Minister. I do like the old traditions - things like MPs referring to each other as "My Honourable Friend" (if in the same party) or "The Honourable Gentleman" (if in opposition). I like the illusion that the press is neutral, which is given by them referring to people in a polite way even if they are a dictator or a mass-murderer. Calling people "Saddam" or "Slobba" seems overly-familiar.

I suppose one problem then is if papers referred to Saddam Hussein as "Mr", in the British way, they would also have to rearrange his name. And as purplerabbits says, a lot of journalists don't even know that his name is the other way round. They could refer to him using the Arabic word for "Mr", but this would require a level of education and cultural sensitivity beyond some, if not most of them.

Saddam

[meeping.livejournal.com]

I have also noticed that this week, and I had thought of it being his surname without knowing for sure whether it was his "christian" (islam?) or family name. I also thought that if it said "Hussein" it would be more ambiguous and could potentially refer to Nasser Hussein the cricketer...
I am sure however if Saddam was the "islam" name that would be what the school-boy british press would call him because it contains the word "sad"!