Egyptian Father Names His Daughter "Facebook" 162
An anonymous reader writes "An Egyptian man has decided to show his appreciation towards Facebook for its role during the revolution in his country by naming his firstborn daughter Facebook. From the article: 'Egyptian dictator Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak was in power from 1981 until February 11, 2011, when he resigned after 18 days of protests. Facebook has been credited for helping organize regime-ending protests in the country. Although the Egyptian revolution saw some planning done via Twitter, direct text messages, and other forms of electronic communication, Facebook has come to symbolize all the forms of social media that people used to organize the revolutions in the Middle East.'"
but...... (Score:5, Funny)
In Egyptian, Facebook means Precious Little Poop Machine.
Re:but...... (Score:5, Funny)
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I find it hilarious how us hackers imagine anti-regime rebels equipped with Freenet, GPG, trusted rings and other crypto tools when the reality is that people use facebook over plaintext http and public twitter.
Tell that to the people of Iran who are still in jail.
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I find it hilarious how us hackers imagine anti-regime rebels equipped with Freenet, GPG, trusted rings and other crypto tools when the reality is that people use facebook over plaintext http and public twitter.
Tell that to the people of Iran who are still in jail.
But doesn't that prove the GP's point? People used facebook & twitter, and now they're in jail!
I don't think the GP was saying people SHOULD use plaintext communications - clearly they shouldn't - but the objective fact is that they DO use them, despite the fact that there are semi-comprehensible alternatives readily available.
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Could you really organise a revolution with those tools though? For a revolution to work a large part of the population has to join in and physically get out on the streets, making secrecy kind of pointless. Better to rally as many people as possible and go for an "I'm Spartacus" level of anonymity, hoping that the police/army are not willing to murder tens or hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Facebook and Twitter work so well as revolutionary tools precisely because they are open to everyone.
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Could you really organise a revolution with those tools though?
Yes. That's one of their primary intents. In fact, had others used them, they likely would not be in jail today. Tools such as Tor [wikipedia.org] allow for encrypted access to the Internet such that, in theory, it can't be tracked back to the originator.
The other tools are intended to allow secret and/or anonymous communication. It really boils down to the structure and sophistication of the parties involved and how successful their revolution will be. If you're not very sure of victory and you're non-anonymously posting
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No, Tor is for resistance and privacy. My point is that until you take it public and put yourself in the spotlight you are not going to start a revolution. It has to begin with someone and while you can prepare in secret when it comes to bringing the masses on board you can't remain anonymous or hidden.
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No, Tor is for resistance and privacy
That's my point!
My point is that until you take it public
The technologies in question allow you to take it public - but do so in a safe manner. That's entirely the point. That's entirely why people in Iran are in prison right now.
Re:but...... (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, well the movies imagine that James Bond drives a gadget laden supercar and basejumps off skyscrapers while having a gunfights with akimbo pistols. Yet the most excitement reality sees is writing Stuxnet...
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anyway, some guy in future may claim that he spent all evening "on Facebook"
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FYI, they speak Arabic in Egypt.
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Actually no, they speak "Egyptian Arabic", or "Egyptian" for short, a dialect that is very different from "Literary Arabic"
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Actually no, they speak "Egyptian Arabic", or "Egyptian" for short, a dialect that is very different from "Literary Arabic"
So, do you also differentiate between English, American English, and Australian English? How about South African English, or Indian English? They are very different, but they are still the same language.
They might speak a dialect that is very different than the Maghreb or Levant or Gulf dialects, but it is still Arabic. The literary Arabic or "Fus'ha" would be easily intelligible to those that understand colloquial Egyptian, as that is the standard form of Arabic most commonly found in writing. With a
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So, do you also differentiate between English, American English, and Australian English? How about South African English, or Indian English? They are very different, but they are still the same language.
How 'bout Scots English, or Jamacian Creole? There are no universally accepted criteria for what distinguishes a language and a dialect. There are Chinese dialects that differ more from each other than Italian does from Spanish. I is my personal opinion that this argument is basically argumentum ad populum.
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Scottish English is English; Scots is not
My point is that there is no consensus as to what constitutes a distinct language and what constitutes a dialect and it boils down to popular opinion of whether the words spoken by two groups are separate dialects of the same language or are two languages.
From Wikipedia: [wikipedia.org]
Although a number of paradigms for distinguishing between languages and dialects do exist, these often render contradictory results. Focused broad Scots is at one end of a bipolar linguistic continuum, with Scottish Standard English at the other.[3] Consequently, Scots is often regarded as one of the ancient varieties of English, but with its own distinct dialects.[2] Alternatively Scots is sometimes treated as a distinct Germanic language, in the way Norwegian is closely linked to, yet distinct from, Danish.[2]
Then continues:
Those positions also being reflected in the 2010 Scottish Government study of "public attitudes towards the Scots language" in which 64% of respondents (around 1,000 individuals being a representative sample of Scotland's adult population) "don't really think of Scots as a language" but where "the most frequent speakers are least likely to agree that it is not a language (58%) and those never speaking Scots most likely to do so (72%)".
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actually you would need to specify which "English" you are referring to since there is at least the big break of US and UK spellings not to mention that different words are used for some things. even if you limit yourself to UK subdialects i think right now NOBODY actually speaks "Anglo-Saxon" without some tweaks due to foreign influence and other effects.
I guess the newly perceived freedoms (Score:3)
I guess high on the newly perceived freedoms the father wanted to make sure his daughter will be able to experience some of the hardships he faced throughout his life.
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His son will be named Sue.
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lol awesome.
Re:I guess the newly perceived freedoms (Score:5, Informative)
Ah that's nothing, if you want some really dodgy names go to the Philippines. Dildo, Lolita, Thumper, Flipper, Ding Dong and Hitler are a few that spring to mind. I love Filipinos but seriously.
Re:I guess the newly perceived freedoms (Score:5, Insightful)
Lolita is not a dodgy name. It's a perfectly acceptable short form of Dolores in Spanish. That English people have decided to turn it into a bad word is your thing. But it's not dodgy.
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And the Japanese turned it into a creepy word.
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That was only for .... play.
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I live in the Philippines. While we do have a knack for coming up with smart-ass names, I have yet to meet someone here named Dildo, Thumper, or Flipper. Those are most probably names of pets. No Hitler either but we do have a lot of Adolfs. Lolita is pretty common, and we hardly think of it as dodgy. You'd hear Ding-dong a lot. A popular actor here goes by that as his screen name. A senator goes by "Ping". A former church head went by Cardinal Sin. Of course, except for Adolf, Lolita, etc, those are all ni
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Hitler, Himmler, and Hess: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4609892.stm [bbc.co.uk] I remember Jaime Sin alright, best name/job combination ever! :D
Re:I guess the newly perceived freedoms (Score:4, Funny)
How Ironic though, since having a child is generally viewed as the second biggest destroyer of freedom, (after marriage.)
(Just Kidding honey, don't really mean it!)
Nice (Score:5, Funny)
Goatse and Tubgirl changed my life, but I won't be naming offspring after them.
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can someone describe tubgirl with as little detail, and certainly no link please.
No need to describe goatse...
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nevermind, I got a sufficiently descriptive answer at yahoo answers. ugh
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http://bash.org/?434593 [bash.org]
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Goatse and Tubgirl changed my life, but I won't be naming offspring after them.
But Goatse Tubgirl Grub has such a lovely ring to it!
lol (Score:1)
lol.
Poor girl (Score:2)
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Well, assuming she's just born, chances are Facebook will go belly up before she's 10.
The real question (Score:3)
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No. (Score:1)
I smell... (Score:1)
Re:I smell... (Score:5, Funny)
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can facebook be sued by facebook?
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Huh? (Score:5, Funny)
Facebook has been credited for helping organize regime-ending protests in the country.
How could she have helped organize protests when she has just been born?
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Informative)
You must not be a parent. Babies are born knowing how to protest, and they do it very well. Their protests usually center around food, overloaded diapers, and sleep. It's only a short step from there to political demonstrations.
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
No better reason (Score:1)
I suppose there's few reasons better to name your daughter Facebook.
Punish the children... (Score:2)
Account Creation Request DENIED (Score:5, Funny)
This had the unfortunate effect of further handicapping her already struggling social life
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrQUWUfmR_I [youtube.com]
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Do NOT type "Google" into Google! It breaks the Internet!!!!
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Strange names aren't always bad (Score:3)
Just ask Dweezil or Moon Unit Zappa.
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Strange names can be overcome easily with a rich/celebrity parent.
I wonder if naming your firstborn Facebook is enough to make you a celebrity.
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Do you think they will be socially acceptable?
Only one way to find out.
At least he went with the market leader... (Score:2)
Can you imagine if your 8 year old was named Myspace?
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or a 3 year old named Zune. I guess that's not as bad as a 30 year old named TRS-80.
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or a 3 year old named Zune. I guess that's not as bad as a 30 year old named TRS-80.
or little PS3
Zuckerberg et al (Score:3, Interesting)
For those of you who don't know, when female reporter Lara Logan was attacked and sexually molested by an Egyptian mob, the attackers were shouting at "Jew, Jew, Jew!" at her. She isn't even Jewish, but there's a pathological hatred for Jews in much of the Middle East.
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Ehm (Score:5, Insightful)
Egypt is a popular holiday destination for Israeli's. Remember that haters will always exist but most normal people are normal people. If Germans can visit Israel, Japanese can visit Korea/China, Americans can visit pretty much anywhere, Canadians can visit the US, Belgians can visit Holland etc etc then Jews can visit Egypt.
The real feelings in the middle east are far more complex then fits in a Fox news flash. In fact it is YOU that cares what religion a founder of a website is or even what the religion might be of a guy who worked on a cpu. YOU noticed this, not some random Egyptian whose own believes ain't even known.
Those protests you might have seen burning American/Israeli flags? Well, we know now what they really were. Staged protests not supported by the masses. We SAW what happened when the masses think something and gosh, no signs of hatred for the Zionists or the great Satan but for their own corrupt MUSLIM leaders.
Al Queda failed. They tried to install hatred and accomplished nothing. Peaceful protests without hate for other races/religions changed the region in a matter of weeks.
Do you judge the US by the KKK?
Re:Ehm (Score:4, Informative)
Do you judge the US by the KKK?
I'm pretty sure 98% of Americans don't agree with the ideals of the KKK. If Pew is to be believed [pewglobal.org], Egyptians do tend to take a rather harsher view.
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Canadians can visit the US
In the context of your post that would seem to indicate that there is some bad blood between Canada and the US. What on Earth for?
Sure they speak weird, and keep using those two words "hoser" and "eh" all over the damn place. However, those lovely bastards have strong beer, Tim Hortons, and hockey. They're alright with me.
Not to mention they also gave us Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis). Shit... that alone almost makes them blood brothers in my book. "Nobody gives me the Raspberry".
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Just like there is one for arabs/muslims where you live, it seems.
Wow, that's funny. GP complains about anti-Semitism in Egypt, cites an example, and you make that out to be an attack on all "Arabs/Muslims".
I guess the GP hit a little too close to home for comfort.
Truth hurts, eh?
Doesn't matter (Score:2)
It'll probably come out as Razeel Cassid Fassbuk el Dar-min or something. She'll be fine.
From another perspective (Score:3)
The name Facebook probably sounds a bit exotic and interesting to a foreign tongue. We English speakers do the same thing with foreign words as names; especially using foreign cities. Now, imagine meeting a German kid named Chicago or Macho. Probably the same to a European meeting an American girl named Paris or Allegra.
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To be honest, to us Europeans, one of the weirdest things about Paris Hilton is that she has a boys name...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_%28mythology%29
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I see a lot of similar responses I'd like to address. My point isn't that Americans NEVER use city names for children. It's that people often use words and names from other cultures based on phonetic (maybe even a literal translation) appeal. Sometimes, those names might not make much sense to use for children for native speakers or might just sound awkward.
I won't feel so bad... (Score:1)
Not that bad (Score:3)
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Your signature is the best one ever. Too bad, I know your RSA private key now.
My daddy hates me! (Score:2)
When he realizes his error... (Score:3)
m
inspiration! (Score:2)
Incoming lawsuit (Score:3)
There are worse names than "Facebook" (Score:1)
Second born will be named... (Score:1)
tech company reputations change fast (Score:2)
Could be worse (Score:2)
I think that, all things considered, such an arrangement is preferable to having sons named "Kalash" (from Avtomat Kalashnikova), which is a common practice in some African countries.
Fine with me, but... (Score:2)
Didn't someone... (Score:1)
At least . . . (Score:2)
He didn't name her Porsche or Houston.
A conversation 15 years in the future... (Score:2)
A: Hey, I heard you Facebooked Facebook.
B: Yeah, I did. I looked at Facebook's Facebook and sure enough Facebook says her name is Facebook.
A: Haha. I wonder if she has a brother named Twitter.
B: What's Twitter?
Pill disfunction punish (Score:2)
Way to get your kid beaten up at school on a regular basis....
16 years later somewhere in the desert (Score:2)
Proud daddies (Score:2)
I'm sure Mark Zuckerberg is proud that someone named their baby after his.
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Kid: Mom, how did you choose my name? ....
Mom: Well, Redtube, its like this
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Well "book" is traditionally a feminine noun, so, no.