05 February, 2010

Akbar Zeb sent to UAE, KSA to serve as ambassador

It's all here. And it isn't a link to The Onion. He's a big deal diplomat. More, in Arabic, here.



For this video suggestion thanks go to Slate.fr
Un diplomate de haut niveau pakistanais s'est vu refuser le poste d'ambassadeur en Arabie saoudite à cause de son nom, Akbar Zeb, qui signifie «la plus grosse bite» en arabe. Les responsables saoudiens, apparemment accablés par le nom, on mis leur veto.

16 comments:

Al-ain Rose said...

LOOOOOOOOOL OMG!!

Zafar said...

The Arabs should understand that the language Urdu is a mixture of many international and local languages including Arabic and Persian.

The word Zeb ( زیب ) being used in Urdu language is basically from Persian and it means "Beauty" literally the meaning of Akbar Zeb in Pakistani or Urdu language context is bigger beauty.

Al-ain Rose said...

Zahar, but the Arab countries have every right to reject him.
The Arab news reporters will have hard time mentioning his name, how could they say that, for example,in his palace Shaikh Mohammed has received Akbar "beauty"?

Anonymous said...

So will Pakistan reject any Saudi Ambassador called Bandar (which means monkey in Urdu)

Anonymous said...

@Al-ain Rose:

I don't really know about you, but it seems kind of undesirable to be rejected for having a culturally "extraneous" name.
I met a Dutch once in an Amsterdam who took it as an offense when I said "lul" instead of "lol" (yes, I speak interwebz) only because "lul" meant male genitalia in the Dutch language.
Overall, we really shouldn't take other people's names according to our language only; it's counterproductive as far as qualification and commonsense are concerned.
I hope my comment was discrete enough.

Al-ain Rose said...

we really shouldn't take other people's names according to our language only; it's counterproductive as far as qualification and commonsense are concerned.
....
Yea I agree, but this one is really really different.Could you say his name in front of, lets say, your father? No. I was telling my mother about the story and she kind of didn't like it she thought I was telling an off-color joke, I tolde her it was not a joke, it was a true story.Then she burst out laughing.
How do you find it easy not to be sensitve about his name when his name literally translates to a dirty thing in Arabic, even much for porn stuff, I'm sorry but imagine when his name is mentioned in an arabic channel.Eww.

So will Pakistan reject any Saudi Ambassador called Bandar (which means monkey in Urdu)
.........

But monkey's not as rude as biggest ****. No comparison. Yes it's not his guilt that he has an unfortunate name in Arabic, on the other hand, no one can blame the Arab countries for rejecting him.
Thank Allah I have a common name that could be found anywhere.

Anonymous said...

how come everyone keeps on calling it an "unfortunate name"?

Anonymous said...

@Al-ain Rose:

Hmm, I wouldn't really know. Perhaps his name is pronounced like Zeeb, rather than Zib, which is like a shami pronunciation of ****? Another thing is that if the guy has such an embarrassing name, then why not just use his family name, if Zeb is his father's name, or vice versa?

I still don't know how this disqualifies him from doing good deeds in our countries. I'm sorry but your mom isn't the whole public. My dad heard about this, and he was disappointed, not because of the name, but because of how this person was treated based on nothing but his name.

If the public is so keen on nefarious terms, they might as well blurt out half of the Japanese names or google "Dick" Cheney; that would have a higher success rate for the public's gratification on others "misfortune".

Anonymous said...

I think it's okay to laugh at it privately but to turn down an appointment based on what you think someone's name means!!

There are other famous people by the name too...and it sounds like slang rather than a real word in Arabic.

Zēb-un-Nisā Makhfī (Persian: زیب النساء مخفی) (also written Zebunnisa, Zebunnissa, Zebunisa, Zeb-un-Nisa, Zeb-ul-Nissa) (Zeb means beauty or ornament in Persian. Princess Zeb-un-Nissa is remembered as a Sufi and a poet.

hemlock said...

@ khalood: the name is pronounced zay-b.

anon's comment was interesting because as kids we used to laugh over prince bandar's name & pictures...

until our mom told us it was impolite. we then grew up and matured enough to accept linguistic differences.

i have a feeling saudis were threatened by his qualifications.

Al-ain Rose said...

i have a feeling saudis were threatened by his qualifications.
......
He was already rejected by two countries before Saudi,which were UAE as well as Bahrain, for the same reason, his name.

Al-ain Rose said...

Hmm, I wouldn't really know. Perhaps his name is pronounced like Zeeb, rather than Zib, which is like a shami pronunciation of ****?
.....
Even if it can be pronounced slightly differently, Arab will not let it go believe me.

hemlock said...

you missed the point al-ain rose.

his name is exactly what the arabs are threatened by. =)

i wonder if akbar zeb is pakistan's rasputin.
hmm.

hemlock said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

"Could you say his name in front of, lets say, your father?"

Diplomatic and state decisions should not be based on "what will mommy or daddy say".

Anonymous said...

Weapons of mass production ;-))

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