Arabic-L:LING:Naming Egypt events

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Wed 16 Feb 2011
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dil at byu.edu>
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1) Subject: Naming Egypt events
2) Subject: Naming Egypt events
3) Subject: Naming Egypt events
4) Subject: Naming Egypt events

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1)
Date: 16 Feb 2011
From: Robert Ricks <rsricks at gmail.com>
Subject: Naming Egypt events

On Twitter, which was widely used to mobilize protestors and disseminate information over the past few weeks, the hashtag #Jan25 (and occasionally #25Jan) gained broad currency in marking messages ("tweets") related to the protests/revolution. (There were others, like #tahrir, but this one seemed the most common.) One can see here  (http://hashtags.org/Jan25) that at 11 AM on Feb 11, 1.35% of all messages on Twitter were marked with this tag.

Given the crucial role of young, internet-savvy Egyptians in the revolution—as well as Egyptians' apparent predilection for events named after dates generally (e.g., 6 October, July 23)—I wouldn't be surprised if the Jan 25 tag sticks.

Robert

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2)
Date: 16 Feb 2011
From: Nadia Yaqub <yaqubn at yahoo.com>
Subject: Naming Egypt events

Hi Dil,

I know that this is not the answer you're looking for, but a colleague of mine at Duke, Frances Hasso, has coined the term "1/11 Revolutions." We can now speak of pre- and post-1/11 just as for the past 9 1/2 years we have spoken of pre- and post- 9/11.  Best, Nadia

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3)
Date: 16 Feb 2011
From: maizaki at GMAIL.COM
Subject: Naming Egypt events

Dear Dil,

Thanks a lot for this list, it is indeed interesting to see how this revolution was named, and even how the names kept on changing each day with new developments.

I personally think that the name ثورة اللوتس understandably didn't get picked up in Egyptian press because it is would seem so historically moved from the present mood, the lotus is always associated with the phaoronic era and the mood was all about changing the present with an eye for the future.. Another reason, in my opinion, is that it seemed a cheesy attempt to mirror ثورة الياسمين in Tunisia.. I mean, there was a lot in common between the two cases but we shouldn't really push it..

I would add to the list 2 more names: ثورة التغيير - الثورة البيضاء

The other thing that might be worth noting is the kind of language used by the people in their chants and on their signs during the revolution. I was especially interested to see the contribution of standard Arabic (e.g. الشعب يريد اسقاط النظام), and of Egyptian Arabic (e.g. مش هنمشي، هو يمشي) and the influence of the English language (e.g. Hit the Road Mubarak). 

Finally, whatever its name, it was a historic two-week period in Egyptian history, and definitely the most exciting period my generation will ever see.. I am flying to Cairo myself in a couple of days, and can't wait to actually stand in Midan El Tahrir for the first time after the revolution :)

Mai Zaki
Middlesex University  

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4)
Date: 16 Feb 2011
From: David Wilmsen <david.wilmsen at gmail.com>
Subject: Naming Egypt events

Somewhat off the main subject, it annoyed me terribly when blow hard American media bigmouths like Chris Matthews (who by the way supported Mubarak) persisted in calling the demonstrations "riots" and the  demonstrators "rioters"

I think if al sharq al awsat was using "lotus" it was aping Western news sources. (It is, after all, a mouthpiece for the Saudi royal family, and by a rather roundabout route then Neo con in orientation). 

The news sources I was following did not use the term lotus at all, as if it had never been uttered anywhere.  But I was mostly glued to al jazeera, occasionally reading the Lebanese al akhbar, about the only Arab paper worth reading - that and al Masry al Youm.


David Wilmsen
Associate Professor of Arabic
Department of Arabic and Near Eastern Languages
American University of Beirut
Bliss Street, Hamra
Beirut, Lebanon
1107 2020
tel:  +961-1-350000 ext. 3850/1

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End of Arabic-L: 16 Feb 2011
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