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"Jihad" No Longer Bad Name in Germany
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Btwbfdimho
10/13/09

In reply to "Jihad" No Longer Bad Name in Germany

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randomnessish
09/03/09

In reply to "Jihad" No Longer Bad Name in Germany
I met a Turkish cab driver in Detroit named Jihad. It was during a giant blizzard across the midwest, and he offered to drive me and my friends home in his van for $600 if we couldn't get a plane. We politely declined. But, he gave me his cell phone number "just in case" so now I have a Jihad in my contacts list.
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daveyjonesisdead
09/03/09

In reply to "Jihad" No Longer Bad Name in Germany
Holy shit, Sputnik would be the cutest baby name ever. I may have to reproduce just to use it. And if it's twins -Soyuz!
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kristinab
09/03/09

In reply to "Jihad" No Longer Bad Name in Germany
well, as an arabic speaker, i can tell you that "jihad" means "effort, struggle, fight (for god or for something in god's name etc)" and stuff like that. sure, people interpret all kinds of shitty things as being in god's name, like, say, shooting abortion providers. or blowing themselves up in cafes. but the word itself doesn't have a meaning that's any better or worse than the Christian names that we've been inoculated against by virtue of hearing of them and being exposed to them all the time.
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iplaudius
09/03/09

@kristinab: What a coincidence: Kampf also only means struggle, and yet there are also very good reasons not to give it as a name to your child.
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Paul_Is_Drunk
09/03/09

@iplaudius: The way you said that implies that German speakers don't use Kampf because of one famous book. Trust me. It's still an every day word.

Though one wouldn't name their kid that because it would be stupid. My friend Brett (German for board) had an interesting time in Germany. Now, if his name was actually Board or whatever Arabic for board is...
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iplaudius
09/03/09

@Paul_Is_Drunk: That’s exactly the point. Kampf retains its everyday meaning, as I’m sure does jihad. It is the act of naming a child Kampf or jihad that, in the Western world, encodes it with other meaning.

Naming is unavoidably social, and not only the act of registering a name. If you live in the West and name your child “jihad,” then you’re making an aggressive social statement in favor of violence as means to achieving ideological goals.

In the interest of even-handedness, now would be a good time to recall the fate of the Campbell children Adolf Hitler, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation, and Honszlyn Hinler Jeannie.
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iplaudius
07/29/09

In reply to Glee Will Soon Be Back to Turn Those Frowns
I predict that Puck is closeted. He will think that Finn is gay, because Finn is in glee club. There will be an awkward and unfortunate incident at a sleep-over: he will make a move on Finn, and Finn will reject him. (Or, more interesting, Finn will go along with it, but the next day decide "never again, dude, I'm not gay.") Puck will fall into shame and sadness and self-loathing, and he will kill himself.

By the same token, it will turn out that Kurt is not gay, not at all, despite his playing to all the stereotypes.
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Edited by iplaudius at 07/29/09 1:35 AM iplaudius was starred iplaudius was unstarred

ToddE
07/28/09

In reply to Glee Will Soon Be Back to Turn Those Frowns
I am male, straight and am looking forward to "Glee."

Of course, I do spend an inordinate amount of time on Bravo...
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DeltaGuy promoted this comment ToddE was starred ToddE was unstarred

DeltaGuy
07/28/09

@ToddE: "I am male, straight and am looking forward to 'Glee.'"

I feel like singing "one of these things is not like the others." Seriously, you get to pick two, any two, of the above traits.
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Alessar
07/29/09

@DeltaGuy: No, no, the 2/3 is "single, hot, sane." Straight men are allowed to like Bravo and Glee. However, I'm not sure if they're still allowed to watch Project Runway on Lifetime.

My best friend, who is straight, will have to be the litmus on this one.
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DavidWatts
07/28/09

In reply to Glee Will Soon Be Back to Turn Those Frowns
This show is, in fact, terrible. And I say this as someone who was in EVERY SINGLE play and musical my school put on during my ENTIRE 4 years in high school. It's just like, I don't even understand the kind of bland self-involved person you would have to be to find this anything close to amusing. No offense!
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TedSez
07/28/09

@DavidWatts: Sadly, I have to agree -- it's a mixture of high-school cliches and the kind of misanthropism that makes "Nip/Tuck" so annoying. And yet the actors are appealing and the music is fun. Well, that's what TiVo fast-forward is for.
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MissNormaDesmond
07/28/09

@DavidWatts: Huh. Well, color me bland and self-involved, I guess. I mean, I'm not sure how you're doing the math on that, but I enjoyed the pilot, although in fact I'm not wild about this number, because I am an old, and reserve the right to harumph about it.

I agree that the show's not breaking new ground in a lot of ways, but I guess I don't expect that much from TV. Appealing actors and fun music is more than a lot of TV has to offer, and I'll take it gladly.

I'm not saying you're wrong, mind you, although I do question the characteristics you're attributing to people who have different taste than you do. I think you probably feel the same way about this show that I do about "Desperate Housewives" -- the idea that it was somehow daring in its portrayal of the dark underside of suburbia used to annoy me, given that Douglas Sirk did it better 50 years ago.
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Edited by MissNormaDesmond at 07/28/09 6:46 PM MissNormaDesmond was starred MissNormaDesmond was unstarred

MissNormaDesmond
07/28/09

@TedSez: I'd agree with you if the misanthropy were unmitigated, but the show manages, for example, to love the success-obsessed female character while still making fun of her flaws, and to allow her male counterpart some real nobility. Again, I don't think it's opening a new epoch in television entertainment, but I liked it.
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DorothyBarker
07/28/09

@TedSez: Right behind you. What is it with Ryan Murphy and his basic disdain for humanity? I find his stuff unwatchable because of it. And he/they couldn't have subverted ONE cliche? Like, oh, I don't know, how about making the awesome African American girl (above) who has the REAL voice the LEAD? Crazy talk, I know.
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labyrinthine IS DOING THIS
07/28/09

@DavidWatts: agreed. normally I would be so on board with this kind of thing, and I really wanted to be, but it left me feeling...cold somehow. I admit that this clip is ridiculously better than the pilot, but what does that prove?
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TedSez
07/29/09

@MissNormaDesmond: Hmmm... to me, they took an incredibly pretty and talented girl (well, woman, since like most of the high-schoolers she looks well over 20) and made her a cartoonishly annoying overachiever just so the other characters would hate her. But maybe that's my own dark underside talking.
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MissNormaDesmond
07/30/09

@TedSez: To me it feels more even-handed, as if they're both showing why she's annoying to other kids but also why she's so driven. It's sort of a vicious cycle -- the more she's hated by her peers, the more desperately she needs to invest in her dreams of fame and her frantic self-promotion, the more her peers pick on her in ways that are clearly shown to be cruel and hurtful. I felt for her and laughed at her at the same time. I also identified with her a bit.

But hey, potayto potahto. I'm not saying you're wrong. I guess I'm trying to acquit myself of being bland and self-involved. Wait, maybe I am a cartoonishly annoying overachieving Gawker commenter! Please don't hurl fruit drinks at me.
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DahlELama
07/28/09

In reply to Glee Will Soon Be Back to Turn Those Frowns
Blurg. Not quite what I was hoping for. Don't get me wrong--she's got a fantastic voice--but I feel like I just sat through the exact type of music video that used to make me change the channel back when MTV actually played them. The bit at the end was cute though.
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Aidan_
07/28/09

@DahlELama: Yeah, I was with them up 'til the anonymous black stage and SUV with spinners.

I'm wondering though...does this mean those two characters will have a thing? Will he not be gay? Probably more of an unrequited love thing on her part.
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skymotel
07/28/09

In reply to Glee Will Soon Be Back to Turn Those Frowns
That was brilliant. And thank God her character got more than back-up status in this new clip.
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Heneage
07/28/09

In reply to Glee Will Soon Be Back to Turn Those Frowns
She ain't no Kelly Rowland!
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TubOfTaft
07/28/09

In reply to Glee Will Soon Be Back to Turn Those Frowns
Sadly, I don't see this show making it past a second season.
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Aidan_
07/28/09

@TubOfTaft: Probably right. But it'll be an awesome run to the finish.
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DeltaGuy
07/28/09

@TubOfTaft: Past a second season? I'll be surprised if it even makes it to a second season. Hell, I'll be ecstatic if it makes it past its second episode.
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