USAma Bin Laden?

[Eddie Haskell]

http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wanted_terrorists/usama-bin-laden

USAma to Osama

When did we change his name?

[Richardo]

1. It's like Khaddafi/Ghaddafi/Qadafi etc

Transliterating Arabic to English is an inexact exercise.

[TheWraith]

3. Exactly, extremely different character sets means you're putting down a pronunciation.

"Osama" became popular early on, but some places still use Usama.

[Recovered Repug]

12. While I understand some languages don't translate well,

it sure would help if everyone stuck with one spelling.

[Ohio Joe]

2. I've seen a number of different spellings

No clue which is really correct.

[Eddie Haskell]

4. The FBI uses USAma

I want a birth certificate. Was he born in the USA? Was his mother American?

[BOG PERSON]

5. when we realized you cant spell Usama without U-S-A

[Wait Wut]

6. Just use his nickname...

...Fish Food.

[DJ13]

7. We created him, shouldnt we get some credit?

[Eddie Haskell]

8. Yea, I'm beginning to think the CIA named him.

:-)

[dipsydoodle]

11. ditto

.

[jobycom]

9. Tried to insert Arabic script here, didn't work.

Arabic phonemes don't align perfectly with English, and the pronunciation or Arabic words can further change depending on the sound that precedes or follows it. For instance, the "bin" would be "ibn" if it followed a consonant. The word would be spelled the same in Arabic, but pronounced differently, so you have to choose whether to transliterate the written word or the sound.

So both Usama and Osama are wrong, and right. They are just approximations. Osama was common usage for a long time, but our government used Usama, and after 9-11 the media started using Usama. Now it's gone back to the more common usage. Or osage.

[Eddie Haskell]

10. Interesting, no wonder we have so much trouble translating

their intercepted phone calls.

[H2O Man]

13. A decision was

made in October of 2001 to use the incorrect "Osama."

[Eddie Haskell]

14. That crossed my mind.

I wonder if Fox had anything to do with the change. They control such a huge part of the media anything is possible.