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Helpwhat does that even mean ...
in reply to a message by mirfak
"IMO the connection to terrorism doesn't exist. It's only on paper and not in real life."
Do you never watch the news and hear ISIS spoken out loud? Do you seriously not believe that the group's Anglicized acronym isn't widely known across cultures and is only ISIS to a few in-the-know people?
Would be intresting if you could look at pre-2010's New Zealand lists of rejected names and see if Isis was on them before its current association.
Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you criticize him, you're a mile away and you have his shoes!
Steve Martin
Do you never watch the news and hear ISIS spoken out loud? Do you seriously not believe that the group's Anglicized acronym isn't widely known across cultures and is only ISIS to a few in-the-know people?
Would be intresting if you could look at pre-2010's New Zealand lists of rejected names and see if Isis was on them before its current association.
Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you criticize him, you're a mile away and you have his shoes!
Steve Martin
Replies
FWIW it’s often called “ISIS” in some other western languages than English, though pronounced “Eesees.”
It means: Isis as a person's name, has no real intelligible connection with a militant group called I.S.I.S. ... that is pronounced like the name Isis by news-readers, instead of saying what it stands for. I can't even say what the acronym stands for exactly ... and I don't think most people could, where I live anyway. We just parrot the news-readers and say "eye-sis". Islamic state something!
Take Mia. Mia is not ruined by the acronym MIA ... because nobody is lame enough to read that aloud pronounced as Mia. Maybe because the news doesn't cover MIAs like it covers them tErRiSts. Saying ISIS as Isis, seems like gimmickry to me. Like, imagine if they did read MIA as "Mia." It'd be lame. Yeah it seems awkward to spell out, "eye ess eye ess" ... but ISIL is always spelled out?? And not said as "is-ill" ... why not? Because calling it "Isis" is catchy, a gimmick... imo. Like Fannie Mae.
Isis the name, has been well known from the Egyptian myth, since a long time before. And Isis is a name that belongs to people in our own communities right now. A few thousand are out there; it was getting trendy for years before cooptation, about in sync with Aspen, and I think it would have taken off similarly if not for the news. People named Isis will still be living for a long time, establishing their name as a name. It's not shameful...
I think people who don't like it, are really feeling like their OWN association of it with the news keeps them from liking it as a name - which I get. I get why some people think it's an issue. But if people personally knew someone named Isis, they probably would not *really* think it was that unfortunate. They'd just think it was given because of the goddess. Unless they were being deliberately hysterical.
Take Mia. Mia is not ruined by the acronym MIA ... because nobody is lame enough to read that aloud pronounced as Mia. Maybe because the news doesn't cover MIAs like it covers them tErRiSts. Saying ISIS as Isis, seems like gimmickry to me. Like, imagine if they did read MIA as "Mia." It'd be lame. Yeah it seems awkward to spell out, "eye ess eye ess" ... but ISIL is always spelled out?? And not said as "is-ill" ... why not? Because calling it "Isis" is catchy, a gimmick... imo. Like Fannie Mae.
Isis the name, has been well known from the Egyptian myth, since a long time before. And Isis is a name that belongs to people in our own communities right now. A few thousand are out there; it was getting trendy for years before cooptation, about in sync with Aspen, and I think it would have taken off similarly if not for the news. People named Isis will still be living for a long time, establishing their name as a name. It's not shameful...
I think people who don't like it, are really feeling like their OWN association of it with the news keeps them from liking it as a name - which I get. I get why some people think it's an issue. But if people personally knew someone named Isis, they probably would not *really* think it was that unfortunate. They'd just think it was given because of the goddess. Unless they were being deliberately hysterical.
This message was edited 1/30/2024, 9:40 AM
I personally think it would be unfortunate to have the name Isis right now. I can know it's because of something else but still find it unfortunate because of its associations.
I think I get what Mirfak means. If I was to meet a baby named Isis, I would not immediately think "oh my god these people are terrorists." I would think "oh, like the goddess." People in government organizations might be paranoid about pro-terrorist families, but how often do we come across them in real life, as regular people?
This makes me curious.... Did they try to stop the use of the name Ira during The Troubles?
This makes me curious.... Did they try to stop the use of the name Ira during The Troubles?
I don't imagine ...
That anyone would seriously think a baby Isis was named *after* the organization; I think the reaction would be more like "Really bad idea in this day and age." More kind of the parents were clueless or didn't think very carefully.
I have a feeling Ira was never used much *in* Ireland, even before the Troubles; it seems to be a very traditionally Jewish name. But I bet it wouldn't go over well in Ireland now.
That anyone would seriously think a baby Isis was named *after* the organization; I think the reaction would be more like "Really bad idea in this day and age." More kind of the parents were clueless or didn't think very carefully.
I have a feeling Ira was never used much *in* Ireland, even before the Troubles; it seems to be a very traditionally Jewish name. But I bet it wouldn't go over well in Ireland now.