[Ads-l] haboob

[James A. Landau]

Today's Jerusalem Post  http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Dust-Storm-or-Haboob-Texans-flip-over-weathermans-choice-of-terminology-455723

<begin quote>
Dust Storm, or 'Haboob?' - Texans flip over weatherman's choice of terminology 

<snip>
When a dust storm was referred to on Monday as "Haboob," locals of Lubbock Texas did not shy away from speaking up on the weather service's Facebook page in order to express disdain over the chosen word, of Arabic origin. 
 
<snip>
A third Texan took the opportunity to address the impending US election and express his support for Republican candidate Donald Trump, saying, "I for one cannot wait until those gosh dang democrats get swept out of office cause you know the Donald will not allow these Islam loving words to be used in the good ole US of A. We have a new haboob on the way.....and his name is Trump, the biggest haboob in the world!!!!" 

<snip>
Yet, to balance out these extreme reactions, some moderates looked down on the comments of the "ignorant" Texans who were overly critical of a weather term which, although of Arabic origin, was entirely appropriate. "Haboob" is used to describe intense dust storms often associated with thunderstorms, typical in the Middle East and Africa. It stems from  the word "habb," which, in Arabic, means "wind" or "to blow." It's use was not at all misappropriated. 

<snip>
Another wrote, "To all of you people complaining about a word. Do you all realize how stupid y'all look? I mean, the rest of the country and the world is laughing at y'all. Lmao [sic] stop getting offended over nothing. It's super annoying to the civilized world. We work too hard to make humanity modern and non-draconian to allow this sort of BS. Thanks."
<end quote>

I might the "third Texan" quoted above is being logically inconsistent.  

Is there such a word as "misappropriated"?

-James A. Landau



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