[ExI] a trifle of nomenclature

[Lee Corbin]

Damien writes

>>Every intelligence agency in the world believed that Hussein
>>had the WMD, and he behaved and acted as though he did too.
> 
> I was under the impression that this was his given name, but no--and 
> neither is Hussein his surname. Here's the good oil:
> ...

He should have been addressed, even internationally, as he wished
to be addressed (Miss Manners again). 

If we don't know, then it's a trade-off between brevity (as in Saddam,
or Hussein) and politeness, which for us would be Mr. Hussein, in
order to show respect.  (I am making no comment on the alleged
deliberate mispronunciation of "Hussein" by Bush the First in order
to rattle him.)

Lee

> <The general rule for journalists is to shorten a subject's name to 
> simply his last name on second reference. But in the case of the 
> leader of Iraq, neither Saddam nor Hussein is technically a surname.
> 
> Journalists have worried that choosing to address the leader by his 
> first name is somehow rude and smacks of the dismissive tone that 
> President George Bush (and his father before him) has often been 
> accused of using.
> 
> The country's main news wire service, the Canadian Press, along with 
> its sister organization in the U.S., the Associated Press, have 
> decided to go with "Saddam." The National Post and Toronto Star 
> newspapers follow a similar pattern. CTV, meanwhile, has chosen to 
> use "Hussein," while The Globe and Mail uses the more formal "Mr. 
> Hussein." CBC seems to work around the problem by referring to him 
> only as "Saddam Hussein" in their broadcasts.
> 
> Associated Press explains its position of using the Iraqi leader's 
> first name this way:
> 
> "He is not usually referred to as 'Hussein' by people in Iraq or 
> elsewhere in the Middle East. Political leaders and Iraqi citizens 
> call him simply Saddam or by both names -- Saddam Hussein. Both 
> Arabic- and English-language newspapers follow the same practice, and 
> some that use both names in copy reduce it to Saddam in headlines.''
> 
> John Miller, who teaches "Covering Diversity" at the School of 
> Journalism at Ryerson University says this issue could be simple: if 
> most world leaders are referred to by their second name, then the 
> leader of Iraq should be treated the same.
> 
> But CTV's Ellen Pinchuk, who is reporting from Baghdad, says the 
> people of Iraq don't address their leader by name at all. Pinchuk 
> says the Iraqis she's spoken to say they categorically do not refer 
> to their president as "Saddam." When speaking of him in the press, 
> they prefer to call him "Mr. President Saddam Hussein" on first 
> reference, and then simply, "Mr. President," or "His Excellency."
> 
> "Many are not comfortable pronouncing his actual name in public 
> within hearing distance of anyone," Pinchuk says.
> 
> The issue is complicated by the Arabic system of family names. The 
> Associated Press recently explained its decision to refer to the 
> Iraqi leader as "Saddam" this way:
> 
> "Hussein is not his family name. Saddam is his given name, and 
> Hussein is his father's given name; this is common practice in Arab 
> families. His full name is Saddam Hussein al-Majd al-Tikriti, but he 
> uses neither al-Majd, which is akin to a family name, nor al-Tikriti, 
> which is a name for his extended family, or clan, derived from the 
> Tikrit region where the president is from."
> 
> Tim Harrison, a professor of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at 
> the University of Toronto explains that Arabic names are structured 
> so that their full names offer a sort of genealogy of the family. So, 
> Hussein is not the president's last name; it is the name of his 
> father, Hussein Abdul al Majid al Tikriti. The Iraqi leader's son is 
> likewise named after him: Odai Saddam Hussein.
> 
> Strictly speaking, Hussein's family name is "al Majid." But this full 
> name is never used in Iraq, except in very formal contexts, "perhaps 
> to position him in the broader tribal confederation that he's from," 
> Harrison explained to CTV News Online.>
> 
> What a relief to know that!
> 
> Damien Broderick
> 
> 
>