Saddam's Fall From Grace

I read this in a quick article on the Arab News today. Apparently, the name Saddam is not longer as acceptable as it once was.

The boy, his father said, was fighting with his classmates at school every day. “My son is angry and frustrated because of this name that has caused him a lot of trouble at school,” Al-Harithy said.

Students made a habit of calling the young Saddam names like Haddam, which means destroyer. “One of my son’s teachers called me and advised me to change my son’s name to avoid the problems he’s facing,” the father added.

The name Saddam, Al-Harithy said, now symbolizes “pessimism, evil, mockery and disappointment all at once.” He wants to change his son’s name to Sitan, meaning the blade of a sword.

The name Saddam will likely carry with it a certain infamy for a generation or two, such is the changing political climate.

Read the story.

Posted by zombyboy at January 5, 2004 12:46 PM | TrackBack