So which is it?
“ISIS” or “ISIL?”
The media seems to be calling it “ISIS.” Yet gumint minions call it “ISIL.”
I guess “ISIS” stands for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria; and “ISIL” stands for “Islamic state in Iraq and Levant” — “Levant” being a large area of the Middle East in which “ISIL” wants to establish an Islamic state. It includes Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, parts of Turkey and Egypt, plus Iraq.
Media reports call it “ISIS;” yet the president and his press-secretary, among others in gumint, call it “ISIL.”
I’ll let a Washington-Post Internet article weigh in:
“If you're following the ongoing crisis in Iraq, you've probably encountered the conflicting acronyms used for the jihadist group storming through the country.
The Washington Post has been referring to the organization as ‘ISIS,’ shorthand for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
This is how most news organizations that operate in English began identifying the outfit when it emerged as a dangerous fighting force two years ago, launching terror strikes and carving out territory amid the Syrian civil war.
But the acronym that’s now deployed by many agencies as well as the United Nations and the U.S. State Department — and President Obama — is ‘ISIL,’ for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Here’s how the Associated Press justified switching its acronym style from ‘ISIS’ to ‘ISIL.’
‘In Arabic, the group is known as Al-Dawla Al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham, or the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. The term “al-Sham” refers to a region stretching from southern Turkey through Syria to northern Egypt (also including Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan). The group’s stated goal is to restore an Islamic state, or caliphate, in this entire area.
The standard English term for this broad territory is “the Levant.” Therefore, AP’s translation of the group’s name is the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ‘ISIL.’”
So speaks mighty Associated-Press, arbiter of all things taste in the dreaded media (gasp!).
While I worked at the Messenger Newspaper in Canandaigua, we went by the vaunted “Associated-Press Style-Book.” I even had one of my own — I still have it.
Of course, what I have is out-of-date. AP style seemed behind normal language usage, but fluid.
We even had exceptions at the Messenger (gasp!).
AP style wanted us to hyphenate “teenager” (as in “teen-ager”). We did when I was first there, but later during my employ the newspaper’s head-honcho ditched the hyphen.
Other words remained hyphenated: “e-mail” and “web-site,” for example.
The voice-recognition on my iPhone doesn’t hyphenate these words. —And I ain’t about to put ‘em in there myself.
Ya mean they actually pay people to decide this silly junk?
No wonder Rush Limbaugh hates the media, which he dare not admit he’s part of.
What does it take to decide such arcana?
I still hyphenate “e-mail,” but I stopped hyphenating “website.”
My defense is it’s my blog. I can do whatever I want.
So AP having weighed in, I expected to hear “ISIL” from the media.
But NO! National-Public-Radio’s news pronounced it “ISIS.”
So what do the ISIL guys say? Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham? —Abbreviated “ISIaS?”
Do they even care, as they behead yet another?
This is like the cellphone wars. At least my iPhone only adds “sent from my iPhone.” Others add “from my 4-G Samsung Galaxy-4 via Verizon’s network,” or “from my Samsung Galaxy-4 via T-Mobile,” or “from my Samsung-Galaxy using Touchdown (nitrodesk.com).”
Can you say “information-overload?”
So what we have is war. Elitists in the media (ISIS) versus elitists in gumint (ISIL).
Grist for Limbaugh and his elitist lackeys. (Cue fevered blustering.)
• The “Messenger Newspaper” is the Canandaigua Daily-Messenger, from where I retired almost nine years ago. Best job I ever had — I worked there almost 10 years (over 11 if you count my time as a post-stroke unpaid intern [I had a stroke October 26, 1993, from which I recovered fairly well]). (“Canandaigua” [“cannan-DAY-gwuh”] is a small city nearby where I live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” —It’s about 14 miles away.)
The media seems to be calling it “ISIS.” Yet gumint minions call it “ISIL.”
I guess “ISIS” stands for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria; and “ISIL” stands for “Islamic state in Iraq and Levant” — “Levant” being a large area of the Middle East in which “ISIL” wants to establish an Islamic state. It includes Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, parts of Turkey and Egypt, plus Iraq.
Media reports call it “ISIS;” yet the president and his press-secretary, among others in gumint, call it “ISIL.”
I’ll let a Washington-Post Internet article weigh in:
“If you're following the ongoing crisis in Iraq, you've probably encountered the conflicting acronyms used for the jihadist group storming through the country.
The Washington Post has been referring to the organization as ‘ISIS,’ shorthand for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
This is how most news organizations that operate in English began identifying the outfit when it emerged as a dangerous fighting force two years ago, launching terror strikes and carving out territory amid the Syrian civil war.
But the acronym that’s now deployed by many agencies as well as the United Nations and the U.S. State Department — and President Obama — is ‘ISIL,’ for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Here’s how the Associated Press justified switching its acronym style from ‘ISIS’ to ‘ISIL.’
‘In Arabic, the group is known as Al-Dawla Al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham, or the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. The term “al-Sham” refers to a region stretching from southern Turkey through Syria to northern Egypt (also including Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan). The group’s stated goal is to restore an Islamic state, or caliphate, in this entire area.
The standard English term for this broad territory is “the Levant.” Therefore, AP’s translation of the group’s name is the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ‘ISIL.’”
So speaks mighty Associated-Press, arbiter of all things taste in the dreaded media (gasp!).
While I worked at the Messenger Newspaper in Canandaigua, we went by the vaunted “Associated-Press Style-Book.” I even had one of my own — I still have it.
Of course, what I have is out-of-date. AP style seemed behind normal language usage, but fluid.
We even had exceptions at the Messenger (gasp!).
AP style wanted us to hyphenate “teenager” (as in “teen-ager”). We did when I was first there, but later during my employ the newspaper’s head-honcho ditched the hyphen.
Other words remained hyphenated: “e-mail” and “web-site,” for example.
The voice-recognition on my iPhone doesn’t hyphenate these words. —And I ain’t about to put ‘em in there myself.
Ya mean they actually pay people to decide this silly junk?
No wonder Rush Limbaugh hates the media, which he dare not admit he’s part of.
What does it take to decide such arcana?
I still hyphenate “e-mail,” but I stopped hyphenating “website.”
My defense is it’s my blog. I can do whatever I want.
So AP having weighed in, I expected to hear “ISIL” from the media.
But NO! National-Public-Radio’s news pronounced it “ISIS.”
So what do the ISIL guys say? Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham? —Abbreviated “ISIaS?”
Do they even care, as they behead yet another?
This is like the cellphone wars. At least my iPhone only adds “sent from my iPhone.” Others add “from my 4-G Samsung Galaxy-4 via Verizon’s network,” or “from my Samsung Galaxy-4 via T-Mobile,” or “from my Samsung-Galaxy using Touchdown (nitrodesk.com).”
Can you say “information-overload?”
So what we have is war. Elitists in the media (ISIS) versus elitists in gumint (ISIL).
Grist for Limbaugh and his elitist lackeys. (Cue fevered blustering.)
• The “Messenger Newspaper” is the Canandaigua Daily-Messenger, from where I retired almost nine years ago. Best job I ever had — I worked there almost 10 years (over 11 if you count my time as a post-stroke unpaid intern [I had a stroke October 26, 1993, from which I recovered fairly well]). (“Canandaigua” [“cannan-DAY-gwuh”] is a small city nearby where I live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” —It’s about 14 miles away.)
posted by BobbaLew at 8:42 AM
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