Posted: Sat Oct 13 2001
War Of Words

A war on terrorism, America's new war, The first war of the 21st century, The Special Ops war: The US finds itself groping for words to describe this fight we find ourselves in. But one thing is perfectly clear - it's also a war of words. Nouns, specifically. Proper nouns, more specifically.

Each day more and more news agencies are taking up the cause. Is it Osama or Usama? "Makes no difference," says a top government official. Bombs may flatten training camps, green berets may set the stage for other troops, but if you really want to get under an enemy's skin, misspell his name. "It's the ultimate insult," says the official, who asked not to be identified. "These guys out there want to make a name for themselves and become a part of history. What better way to deter them?"

The practice of misspelling may be hundreds of years old and its origins blamed on the primitiveness and illiteracy of man, but most identify the really effective use of the practice with a previous US enemy, Ghaddafy, Khaddafy, or Qaddafy. "Oh, we had a lot of fun with that guy," reports a spokesman for the AP. And almost as effective, everyone remembers the senior Bush's purposeful mispronunciation of Hussein: Sad-um versus Sa-dawm. "Some names don't lend themselves to misspelling, so you have to fall back to mispronunciation," states an army officer who has served under both Bushes.


--Suzanne Fontannadanna