The so called BBC

[Flick of the Elbow]

Slightly off-topic, but whatever happened to the word 'guerrilla'?

Ah yes, Not the Nine O'Clock News, Pamela Stephenson as Moira Stewart

 

[vernon]

Slightly off-topic, but whatever happened to the word 'guerrilla'?

The became worried that people would try to use them to make toast.

 

[Scoosh]

An interesting article On the Origin of the ‘Name’ DAESH. by a historian.

Another one - long but interesting and sheds light from an Arabic-speaking perspective. The author is an Arabic translator.

 

[growingvegetables]

An interesting article On the Origin of the ‘Name’ DAESH. by a historian.

Another one - long but interesting and sheds light from an Arabic-speaking perspective. The author is an Arabic translator.

Oh lordy - there's a lot in those articles (thank you for the links!) that I really would like to believe. No way will my Arabic ever be at the level of the translator's.

But bottom line - it's word games.

But when we're on Skype with MiL and extended family in Yemen (this is personal), gunfire clearly VERY, VERY close to her current sitting room, only a couple of streets away ........ and she describes them as "DAESH gangs", the language games just do not matter. These are murderous thugs. End of. It's an acronym - Dawlat al-Islāmiyya fī al-Irāq wa s-Shām; in English - ISIS.

"So-called Islamic State" does me/us just fine. "Murderous thugs" might be better, but there's so many of them around.

 

[Arrowfoot]

Can I just point out that, contrary to the assertions by some commentators, DAESH (it's an acronym and should therefore be capitalised) is not the great insult to IS? In fact, they embrace the name, as it is similar to the Arabic 'dais', which means 'crush or trample'... which is what they're trying to do.

Using DAESH was suggested by the Americans, arising from an Internet meme, as a piece of psychological warfare that has backfired and has been adopted by some British politicians and commentators as they think it makes them look 'in touch' - whereas in reality it makes them look like plonkers.

Describing IS as the "so called Islamic State" will be more insulting than calling them DAESH.

It was indeed derogatory and they did not wear the slant as a badge of honour as claimed.They changed their official name to just Islamic State and dropped the previous name that formed the acronym for this very reason. What Cameron and the Pentagon learnt from this is that they do not set the policy or agenda for word usage. They also now have to deal with a more powerful and emotive name ( as the West is now perceived to be in conflict with a mainstream religion - the Islamic State) and that is what has backfired.