20-11-2015, 07:44 PM
Daesh: The word terrorists doesn't want you to say and why politicians are using it more than ever
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/wo...-1.2438861
Want to drive a terrorist into a frenzy? Try calling him the D-word. ("Daesh")
Western leaders most recently French President Francois Hollande have begun using a silly-sounding phonetic term for Islamic militants that apparently makes the madmen manic: Daesh. President Obama used the word earlier this week in a speech at the G-20 summit in Turkey. In the past month, U.S. Secretary of State Kerry and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius also dropped "Daesh" in speeches. On Wednesday, Hollande slipped it into his address about raids on terrorists, saying "Daesh is guilty" of last week's Paris massacre.
The group better known as ISIS, ISIL or the Islamic State reportedly hates "Daesh" so much that its brutes have threatened to cut out the tongue of anyone using it. So what's the deal with Daesh? The world's most feared terror group is already known by several names, which media and politicians use interchangeably. First, there's the Islamic State, which seems to be the favorite name of the radicals themselves, because it legitimizes their apocalyptic ambition of a bloody Islamic regime. The Islamic State name is often used in the group's propaganda videos.
Then there are two acronyms: ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, referring to an area near the Mediterranean shore). But then comes Daesh (die-EESH). It is also an acronym, short for take a deep breath Dawlat al-Islamiyah f'al-Iraq w Belaad al-Sham, which is the full Arabic term for what English speakers translate as the Islamic State. In other words, Daesh might as well be written as DAESH and understood the same way as the names ISIS or ISIL.
As Arabic translator Alice Guthrie explained in an exhaustive Free Word article this year, acronyms are rarely used at all in Arabic, so any acronym already sounds ridiculous to many Arabic speakers. Worse yet, the acronym Daesh is nearly identical to the Arabic word "dais," meaning something that crushes or tramples. That's an ominous definition on its own, but not the one this self-aggrandizing group wants in its quest for Islamic rule. But in the wake of the Paris massacre, the word now seems to be in its prime. With Obama, Hollande and other leaders using this verbal jab while holding the world's attention, Daesh just might be the new ISIS.
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My personal take on this is that if we quit using the word "Islamic" to define this group of cutthroats, then we ease the ability of real Muslims to differentiate themselves from it.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/wo...-1.2438861
Want to drive a terrorist into a frenzy? Try calling him the D-word. ("Daesh")
Western leaders most recently French President Francois Hollande have begun using a silly-sounding phonetic term for Islamic militants that apparently makes the madmen manic: Daesh. President Obama used the word earlier this week in a speech at the G-20 summit in Turkey. In the past month, U.S. Secretary of State Kerry and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius also dropped "Daesh" in speeches. On Wednesday, Hollande slipped it into his address about raids on terrorists, saying "Daesh is guilty" of last week's Paris massacre.
The group better known as ISIS, ISIL or the Islamic State reportedly hates "Daesh" so much that its brutes have threatened to cut out the tongue of anyone using it. So what's the deal with Daesh? The world's most feared terror group is already known by several names, which media and politicians use interchangeably. First, there's the Islamic State, which seems to be the favorite name of the radicals themselves, because it legitimizes their apocalyptic ambition of a bloody Islamic regime. The Islamic State name is often used in the group's propaganda videos.
Then there are two acronyms: ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, referring to an area near the Mediterranean shore). But then comes Daesh (die-EESH). It is also an acronym, short for take a deep breath Dawlat al-Islamiyah f'al-Iraq w Belaad al-Sham, which is the full Arabic term for what English speakers translate as the Islamic State. In other words, Daesh might as well be written as DAESH and understood the same way as the names ISIS or ISIL.
As Arabic translator Alice Guthrie explained in an exhaustive Free Word article this year, acronyms are rarely used at all in Arabic, so any acronym already sounds ridiculous to many Arabic speakers. Worse yet, the acronym Daesh is nearly identical to the Arabic word "dais," meaning something that crushes or tramples. That's an ominous definition on its own, but not the one this self-aggrandizing group wants in its quest for Islamic rule. But in the wake of the Paris massacre, the word now seems to be in its prime. With Obama, Hollande and other leaders using this verbal jab while holding the world's attention, Daesh just might be the new ISIS.
**********
My personal take on this is that if we quit using the word "Islamic" to define this group of cutthroats, then we ease the ability of real Muslims to differentiate themselves from it.
"All that is necessary for tyranny to succeed is for good men to do nothing." (unknown)
James Tracy: "There is sometimes an undue amount of paranoia among some conspiracy researchers that can contribute to flawed observations and analysis."
Gary Cornwell (Dept. Chief Counsel HSCA): "A fact merely marks the point at which we have agreed to let investigation cease."
Alan Ford: "Just because you believe it, that doesn't make it so."
James Tracy: "There is sometimes an undue amount of paranoia among some conspiracy researchers that can contribute to flawed observations and analysis."
Gary Cornwell (Dept. Chief Counsel HSCA): "A fact merely marks the point at which we have agreed to let investigation cease."
Alan Ford: "Just because you believe it, that doesn't make it so."