Friday, November 07, 2008

What's in a name?

Have you heard the one about Obama being called the messiah?
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Of course the detractors have taken it to mean more than the definition of the word and added the religious context, which is what most people know about: The Messiah is the Deliverer of the Jews [definition 1]. However, look at definition 2, from Merriam-Webster:
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Main Entry: mes·si·ah
Pronunciation: \mə-ˈsī-ə\
Function: noun
1. capitalized a: the expected king and deliverer of the Jews
2: a professed or accepted leader of some hope or cause.

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So I guess if you don't capitalize it, it fits. We have accepted him as leader of our nation and he brings us (and hopefully, delivers) hope.
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Barack means "blessed one" in Arabic or Swahili, and in ancient Egypt, baraka (from which Barack derives) translates "soul double of the sun." Yet in ancient Hebrew, the name means "thunder."
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Hussein means "beautiful" or "handsome."
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I had more trouble finding the meaning of Obama since it seems to be from an African tribal language, Dhoulou. One site said it means "crooked" and, since it was a right wing site, the author interpreted that to mean he is the anti-christ--oh, please. However, it also means "zigzag" and in a tribal culture, naming is often much more poetic than in today's world. Since this is my blog post, I get to determine, in my inimitable way, that the "zigzag" to which they were referring was lightning (especially since my interpretation is just as valid as theirs). So he becomes "Beautiful Thunder and Lightning" or "Blessed Beautiful Lightning Bolt."
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Okay. Now get a load of this:
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Who did he pick to be his Chief of Staff? Rahm Emanuel. In Hebrew, Rahm means "high" or "lofty." In Hindu, however, Ram (prounounced rahm) is an incarnation of Vishnu whose job it is to protect and save the world. Ram's purpose is to fight the demons of untruth and injustice that entered the world in the second yuga (age).
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Emanuel means "God is with us." The New Testament of the Bible spells it either Immanuel or Emmanuel, but the meaning seems to be the same.
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Now we have Blessed Beautiful Lightning Bolt and his right-hand man, God on High Is With Us (who happens to be the savior of the world).
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How does it get any better than this?
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I'm gonna wait and see...that's what I'll do.
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(For those of you who don't know me, stick your tongue in your cheek while you read this. It'll work better.)

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