So, how should Big Mo’s name be spelled? We’ve all seen lots of variations in various articles in many places.
Each time Libya appears in the news, scores of newspaper editors go bananas. Once possessed of faculties that could detect a breaking story as readily as a dangling participle, these poor souls are now reduced to a jabbering stupor, as though they had gazed into the tentacled maw of Cthulhu himself.
Blame it on the name of the country’s head of state, Colonel Gaddafi. Wait, no, that’s Kaddafi. Or maybe it’s Qadhafi. Tell you what, we’ll just call him by his first name, which is, er … hoo boy.
Homeboy can’t seem to make up his own mind, either.
Libya’s Brother Leader lets a hundred flowers bloom. The banner at the top of his official website spells it, “AL Gathafi.” But if you go deeper into the site, you’ll see it variously rendered as “Al Qaddafi,” “Algathafi,” and “Al-Gathafi.”
It just gets more and more confusing, until…
This is the point where most editors give up and run a story on Justin Bieber instead.
On a related note, the years are starting to take their toll on our erstwhile protagonist. At one time, he was quite the handsome young colonel, with a Tom Jones-like look.
Lately, he’s looking more like a washed-up Ron Jeremy’s older uncle.
Or a South American tinpot dictator.
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