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[Ned Flanders]

Any relation to that guy who blew up the Trade Center? Distant cousins or something?

Seriously, why do they (and seemingly only certain Fox News programs, at that) insist on calling him "Usama", when none of the rest of the planet does? When I read the story on their news ticker talking about Zarqawi hooking up with "UBL", I assumed that meant he was a fan of "Red Red Wine". Turns out he's actually hooking up with the worlds terror chief who goes by different initials. Who knew? Thanks Fox News!

 

[Ghost]

Usama Bin Laden is probably the head of some Arab newspaper that Murdoch wants to buy out.

 

[Socreges]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden

Osama bin Laden's name can be transliterated in several ways. The form used here, Osama bin Laden, is used by most English-language mass media, including CNN and the BBC. The second most common English-language form of the name is Usama bin Laden (used by the FBI and FOX News).

But really, consciously choosing Usama over the common Osama (even Wikipedia uses Osama) is strange. Some kind of attempt to set themselves apart, or maybe only 'true Americans' call him Usama.

 

[Forsete]

Usama bin Laden is what our media uses.

 

[Ned Flanders]

Usama bin Laden is what our media uses.

Who exactly is "our" media? Iceland?

 

[Forsete]

Who exactly is "our" media? Iceland?

If you weren’t so LAZY you could check my profile.

Kingdom of Sweden.

 

[Ned Flanders]

So the Swedes call him UBL too, eh? Not suprising coming from a country where people wear their undies on the outside. Loopy bastards.

 

[silver]

You don't really think his organization is called Al Qaeda either, do you?

 

[duckroll]

I read Frederick Forsyth's Avenger a few months back, and in it he uses UBL exclusively because supposedly that's what the CIA and FBI use. It's unusual but nothing to get nitpicky about.

 

[Manics]

I read Frederick Forsyth's Avenger a few months back, and in it he uses UBL exclusively because supposedly that's what the CIA and FBI use. It's unusual but nothing to get nitpicky about.

Ya what's the big deal? If you know they're referring to the same guy when saying Usama as opposed to Osama, it's like when Prince went by "The Artist"

 

[Drexon]

Ilandsproblem.

 

[Meier]

The fact that the FBI refers to him as Usama should be enough to get the general news outlets to. I guess it's considered too late by CNN since the general public would be confused (case in point).

 

[Drensch]

Fox also refers to the war in Ira as the "War on Terror". They like to add connotations to everything, they are the "Spin-zone".

 

[Tommie Hu$tle]

If they really wanted to take the wind out of O/UBL then they should stop calling Al Queda a terrorist orgnization it gives them too much power. If you just refered to them as a gang it would be much less terror and much more humor.

Breaking News: The Al Queda Terrorist group strikes again. The leader of the Terrorist orgnization speaks.

OR

Breaking News: The Al Queda Gang strikes again. The leader of the gang speaks.

 

[Thaedolus]

I remember specifically Fox News saying shortly after the attacks that they were using UBL because it was the most correct translation. According to them, other networks changed it to Osama because some people took offense to USA being the first three letters of his name.

Whatever.

 

[Miguel]

According to them, other networks changed it to Osama because some people took offense to USA being the first three letters of his name.

Whatever.

A ha...ahaha...ahhaha....ahh

I love this country -_-

 

[maharg]

OMG CNN is anti-USA

 

[UltimateMarioMan]

Usama Bin Laden is Osama Bin Laden's far less evil brother. Much like Oscar on Arrested Development he gets tackled by cops alot.

 

[fennec fox]

It's not nearly as bad as it was in the 80s, when there were about 10 different ways to spell the leader of Libya's name.

 

[Loki]

It's not nearly as bad as it was in the 80s, when there were about 10 different ways to spell the leader of Libya's name.

:lol

Hah, so true.

 

[Shinobi]

I remember specifically Fox News saying shortly after the attacks that they were using UBL because it was the most correct translation. According to them, other networks changed it to Osama because some people took offense to USA being the first three letters of his name.

:lol :lol :lol

 

[firex]

You don't really think his organization is called Al Qaeda either, do you?

we all know it's called gamefaqs ff7 social.

 

[cvxfreak]

The fact that the FBI refers to him as Usama should be enough to get the general news outlets to. I guess it's considered too late by CNN since the general public would be confused (case in point).

Well said.

 

[Tarazet]

I don't see what the big deal is. His name is transliterated from Mideastern Squigglese anyway, so from the start there's no right and wrong way to do it.

 

[Socreges]

I remember specifically Fox News saying shortly after the attacks that they were using UBL because it was the most correct translation. According to them, other networks changed it to Osama because some people took offense to USA being the first three letters of his name.

Whatever.

Uh, no. "Osama" has been used in the news media well before 9/11.

Not that Court TV is a wonderful authority, but I've heard this information before:

Dr. Terry Bennett: Well, yes, we're trying to anglicize Arabic, and it's basically a phonetic language. So, we interpret it and spell it to suit ourselves. So, you'll find Osama spelt "Osama," "Usama," "Usuma." Part of this is because there are many dialects in Arabic. And things as simple as the word for "water" vary greatly. In Yemen, they would call it "Mah", in Jeddha, Saudi Arabia, we would call it "Moya" or "Moyah." There's plenty of confusion when you're translating. There's no clear directive involved in translating a language that has a written script into a different written script.

http://www.courttv.com/talk/chat_transcripts/2001/1106bennett.html

IIRC, "Osama" is actually more appropriate since that's how it is pronounced in Arabic.

The fact that the FBI refers to him as Usama should be enough to get the general news outlets to. I guess it's considered too late by CNN since the general public would be confused (case in point).

"Too late"? As if the media should necessarily follow the FBI? Other intelligence agencies use "Osama" - which causes a fair amount of confusion in communicating b/w them.

 

[Incognito]

ignore meier -- he's indirectly praising fox news and conservatism. hey, if they can't be right about WMD's, then maybe this is their way of correcting a wrong.