Poor American public. They had thought Ahmadinejad was a tough one to pronounce. Was just beginning to get comfortable with him, if that is possible, when our region provided new distractions. They had to learn how (not) to say Shi’a (or Shi’ite) and how to spell AlZarqawi and Abu Bakr Al Samarrai. Now with Yemen in the headlines they have been hit with how to pronounce ‘Houthi‘, which makes any American feel like they have a sore throat and maybe streptococcus (only if they say it the correct way).
But that is okay. A people that weathered Dzhugashvili (remember Joe?) and Czechoslovakia (phew, that one is over) and Shevardnadze (so is he) and Brzezinski and Gronkowski (of the losing team of upcoming Super Bowl XLIX) can learn to spell and pronounce anything, especially simpler Muslim names like mine and ours……….
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum 