Saddam Hussein

[Andy Horwood]

Why is it that we always call this man 'Saddam' on the television news ?

Do you think he goes onto Iraqi television saying 'Last night we were bombed again by George and Tony' ?? :lol:

Andy

[pcasey]

If I remember my naming conventions right, most of the arab world doesn't have a last name in the same sense we do. Their last name is generally a badge of tribal affiliation rather than familial. Which, I believe, means the last name isn't really considered to be descriptive.

Thus Saddam Hussein would probably be conceptually translated as something like

Saddam of the Tikrit Clan

And, we can't very well go around calling him "of the Tikrit Clan". Its a bit of a mouthful and describes hundreds of people.

You see the same thing with the Saudi royal family e.g. its not "King Saud", but "King Faisil".

Anyway, just a guess.

[Andy Horwood]

I suppose we follow that principal with our Royal Family here. I read that clip out of a magazine called 'Viz' which, much to my wife's annoyance, I still read it after all these years.