Propaganda and Allah

[Bill Smith]

At 01:40 PM 10/22/01 -0400, you wrote:
>As I recall reading, but I don't remember where; can anyone confirm or
>deny?:
>  1. "Allah" is formed from the definite article "al-" plus the pre-Islamic
>word for 'god' "lah".
>  2. It has no feminine and no plural.
>  3. The "l" is velarized, and the lateral of the article assimilates to it.
>  4. This is the only word in Arabic with a long velarized /l/ [which sounds
>less likely the longer I consider it].
>
>Opinion: People who want to dehumanize the perceived enemy, or portray them
>as different and inferior, find it suits their prejudice to reject
>equivalences and translations that might imply that THEY have any values in
>common with US. Thus, WE true believers worship "God" while THEY, who are
>infidels, worship "Allah" (or vice versa).
>
>                   Mark A. Mandel : Senior Linguist
>  Dragon Systems, a Lernout & Hauspie company : speech recognition
>  320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02460, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com

In other words, "grey propaganda."  It isn't incorrect, but it isn't the
whole truth.
Bill.