28 replies to this topic

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

If you've seen the news in the last couple of days you probably know that terrorists from the group Al-Shabaab seized a mall in Nairobi and engaged in a firefight with Kenyan government forces.
 
The name Al-Shabaab always sounds funny to me.  Maybe it sounds better in Arabic.  It means "The Youth" or "The Boys."  If I were a terrorist leader I would be a lot pickier about my group's name.  Even if it sounds great in Arabic, consider your audience: if you're trying to strike fear in the heart of Americans a name that sounds like something you order at a Lebanese restaurant ("I'll have the al-shabaab with couscous") probably isn't going to cut it.
 
You know who had a great terrorist-group name?  Cobra.  It'a all about brand recognition.  Also, be sure to yell out your organization's name whenever you attack.
 

[King Biscuit]

I was always a fan of the 'Global Liberation Army' circa C&C Generals.

Bearded Liberation Front is what I'd call my own terror group.

JOROSTU AKBAR!

[Thrash]

One of my outside cat's name is Cobra Commander.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

One of my outside cat's name is Cobra Commander.

 

Awesome.  On The Venture Brothers they have a spoof version of Cobra called Sphinx, which uses all-Egyptian themes (pyramids, pharaohs, etc.).  Sphinx Commander is always screaming in that weird, raspy voice and people are always asking what's wrong with him.  Heh.

[Manoka]

The West side boys was an African name.

 

A lot of these people are closer to a gang than a terrorist organization, so it doesn't really matter.

 

 

Al Qaeda means "the base", which is common for military bases in the region, so basically they're calling themselves the headquarters.

 

Taliban means "students"; I mean what, they're threatening us with liberal arts students? Scary.

 

 

Their names are more symbolic than anything.

[m3g4tr0n]

Fruit Cocktails.

 

You could use the acronym FCOK.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

I like V.E.N.O.M. — Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem.

[King Biscuit]

Fraturnity of Underground Conspiracy Killers.

[Manoka]

The Order of the Black Knights

[Thrash]

Weather Underground

[Haflinger]

Al Qaeda means The Base.

 

All Your Base Are Belong To Us.

[Redezra]

Are we talking about supervillain corps? Or Terrorist cells?

Cause as supervillain corps, you just can't go by Globex Industries, but as terrorists? Well, I like the idea of "The Militant Liberated Liberation Army of Militant Liberators Liberating Militants"

[*Anastasia]

The funniest thing about Al-Shabaab to me is their predecessor's flag. From a distance, it looks like a clock.



Honorary mention for having another funny 'terrorist' name: MILF.

[*Anastasia]

Al Qaeda means The Base.
 
All Your Base Are Belong To Us.

Not the same meaning of 'base', but I laughed heartily anyway

[King Biscuit]

I like the idea of "The Militant Liberated Liberation Army of Militant Liberators Liberating Militants"

 

I'm a fan.

[Haflinger]

Al Qaeda means The Base.

 

All Your Base Are Belong To Us.

Not the same meaning of 'base', but I laughed heartily anyway

Yeah. All Your Foundation Are Belong To Us doesn't have quite the same ring to it though.

 

Also, at first glance when I read the word that you used to describe Al Shabaab's flag I missed the letter l which gave me altogether ... well a funny impression. lol.

[King Biscuit]

Al Qaeda means The Base.

All Your Base Are Belong To Us.

Not the same meaning of 'base', but I laughed heartily anyway

Yeah. All Your Foundation Are Belong To Us doesn't have quite the same ring to it though.

Also, at first glance when I read the word that you used to describe Al Shabaab's flag I missed the letter l which gave me altogether ... well a funny impression. lol.

We know where Haf's mind is today.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

I wouldn't quibble about specific translations.  It is very, very difficult to translate certain foreign words/concepts into other languages.  "The Base" is the English approximation of "al Qaeda" that we have settled on, but I have had Arabic speakers tell me it's not necessarily 100% accurate.  Not being an Arabic speaker I have little choice but to take their word for it.  But do this as an exercise:  If you speak a language other than English, try to translate the word "okay" into that language.  It's not as easy as you might think.

 

Another good example is the German word "Reich" (as in Third Reich).  Generally it is translated as "empire," and while it does carry that connotation, it still does not exactly convey the sense of the word that Germans mean when they use it.  Empire, realm, regime — these are all separate and distinct words in English, but Reich means all of them at the same time.

 

Learning a language is more than just substituting new words for old.  It's really a whole different way of conceptualizing the world.

[*Anastasia]

Oh, I definitely know what you mean. I'm not saying the translation is inaccurate, I'm just saying that it can't be directly used accurately in the phrase 'all your base are belong to us' if we consider 'base' in that phrase to refer to a military base, or a base of operations, or something along those lines. In translating 'Al Qaeda' as 'The Base', we're using the word in the English sense of, as Haf said, 'foundation', the base on which something (such as a fundamentalist global caliphate) is built.

[Haflinger]

The good news about "Okay" in other languages is that it's one of the most common English borrow words. So in many languages, translating "Okay" into them produces the answer "Just use the same word dammit, only pronounce it with an accent."