Skeptic
16th April 2004, 03:41 PM
From yahoo (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=5&u=/ap/20040416/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_front_line) :
Troops Blast Music in Siege of Fallujah
By JASON KEYSER, Associated Press Writer
FALLUJAH, Iraq - In Fallujah's darkened, empty streets, U.S. troops blast AC/DC's "Hell's Bells" and other rock music full volume from a huge speaker, hoping to grate on the nerves of this Sunni Muslim city's gunmen and give a laugh to Marines along the front line.
Unable to advance farther into the city, an Army psychological operations team hopes a mix of heavy metal and insults shouted in Arabic — including, "You shoot like a goat herder" — will draw gunmen to step forward and attack. But no luck Thursday night.
"You shoot like a goat herder"???????
WTF??????
Two possibilities:
1). "You shoot like a goat herder" is indeed an intolerable insult to Iraqis, in which case one wonders what caused goat herders in particular to somehow become notorious with bad marksmanship.
2). The reporter doesn't actually know Arabic, so when he asked the soldiers what some Arabic statement (which could have been "Surrender your weapons", for all we know) meant, the soldier he asked pulled his leg and claimed that's what it said.
I suspect it's (2), since "goat herder" is a term used prejorative term for Arabs in general IN ENGLISH, and so far as I know doesn't have any particular negative connotations (or relation to marksmanship) in Arabic.
Troops Blast Music in Siege of Fallujah
By JASON KEYSER, Associated Press Writer
FALLUJAH, Iraq - In Fallujah's darkened, empty streets, U.S. troops blast AC/DC's "Hell's Bells" and other rock music full volume from a huge speaker, hoping to grate on the nerves of this Sunni Muslim city's gunmen and give a laugh to Marines along the front line.
Unable to advance farther into the city, an Army psychological operations team hopes a mix of heavy metal and insults shouted in Arabic — including, "You shoot like a goat herder" — will draw gunmen to step forward and attack. But no luck Thursday night.
"You shoot like a goat herder"???????
WTF??????
Two possibilities:
1). "You shoot like a goat herder" is indeed an intolerable insult to Iraqis, in which case one wonders what caused goat herders in particular to somehow become notorious with bad marksmanship.
2). The reporter doesn't actually know Arabic, so when he asked the soldiers what some Arabic statement (which could have been "Surrender your weapons", for all we know) meant, the soldier he asked pulled his leg and claimed that's what it said.
I suspect it's (2), since "goat herder" is a term used prejorative term for Arabs in general IN ENGLISH, and so far as I know doesn't have any particular negative connotations (or relation to marksmanship) in Arabic.