Most people agree that Muammar Gaddafi is a rotten dictator who has sponsored terrorist attacks that have killed civilians. Now if we can only agree on how to spell the man’s name. Depending on who’s counting, there are either 12 or 37 different ways in which reputable news organizations have spelled the Libyan dictator’s last name. Add in the hapless attempts of spelling-challenged amateurs (amatures?) like me, and there could be thousands of variations floating around.
The official spelling of the name, or at least how his minions spell it for the non-Arabic world, is Al Gathafi. That should be the end of the matter, but no one seems to care how the Libyans spell the Anglicized version of their dictator’s name. The issue is so confused, Wikipedia’s al-Gaddafi page has a whole section devoted to the spelling of his name.
Most, but not all, seem to agree that his first name is spelled Muammar. However others have been known to spell it Moammar or Moamar or Muamar. A few even seem to like Mu’ammar or even Mummer. But deciding on a spelling for the dictator’s first name is a piece of cake compared to his last name.
The English, who perhaps should know, having released one of the Lockerbie bombers into his loving arms, seem to have settled on Gaddafi as the standard spelling of the Colonel’s name. But that is by no means the last word on the subject. A 1986 article by whomever was writing the Straight Dope at the time lists the following variations:
Qaddhafi, Qaddafi, Gaddafi, Gadhafi, Gadafi, Gathafi, Gheddafi, Al-Kaddafi, Kaddafi, Khadafy , Qadhafi , Qadaffi , Qadhdhafi, Gadaffi, Al-Kaddafi, Khadafi, Khadafy, Kazzafi, al-Gaddafi, Qathafi, el-Gadhafi .
If newspapers and magazines with (poorly) paid fact-checkers can’t decide on a spelling, what are the rest of us supposed to do? The problem seems to be that there is no universally accepted was to translate Arabic characters into standard English pronunciations. How can we solve this riddle? By resorting to Google, of course. Check the number of results for different spellings and the one with the most becomes the unofficial ”official” winner. Majority rules, right?
Gaddafi: 1,890,000 results.
Gadhafi: 479,000 results.
Gadafi: 443,000 results.
Qaddafi: 410,000 results.
Khadafi: 376,000 results.
Qadaffi: 81,800 results.
Khadafy: 73,400 results.
Gathafi: 50,900 results.
All right then, Gaddafi is the winner. I hereby declare the official spelling of the Libyan dictator’s name to be Muammar Gaddafi. Interestingly, the dictator’s own preferred spelling, Gathafi, was among the least popular variations. Sic Semper Tyrannis!
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