The Number of Idiots
I have gotten wind of a couple of polls on Twitter asking a simple, trick question. "Should American schools teach Arabic numerals?" The answers to choose were two, "Yes, we should be tolerant," or, "No, this is America."
Can I just curl into a ball and lie forgotten in a corner? Does anybody know what sarcasm is, anymore? Does anybody have a working neuron in their brain? Because this poll was rigged to see who would succumb to xenophobia and who would succumb to general ignorance. The xenophobic ones answered "No" and the ignorant ones answered "Yes." So, a pox on all their houses.
Arabic numbers are actually of Hindu origin. They were developed in India around 500 A.D., from where they were adopted by Arabs. They were further developed in Al-Khwarizmi's Bagdad, and then extended to northern Africa, where the Europeans adopted them for general use. We've been using them in Europe for about a thousand years. When I was a little girl, we were taught in school that our numbers come from the Arabic, and that they also developed the zero, which helped ever so much as a placement number (actually, the zero also came from India). We learned that at the same time as we learned our previous number system, the Roman numerals. Some people either have short memories or didn't pay attention in school.
The ones that responded to the xenophobic trigger are even worse. Just seeing the word "Arabic" triggered their system of automatic hatred. To them, anything tinged with the Middle East and the Arabian peninsula is automatically a work of the devil. Yet their beloved "American" language (actually, it's English, but try explaining that to some of these people) is peppered with Arabic words. I remember years ago there was a diplomatic problem with France, I forget the reason. At that time, some "patriots" suggested changing the name of "French fries" to "American fries." What would they do with all these words that come from the Arabic?
Take sugar with your coffee while you sit on your sofa and watch the Arsenal? You're using Arabic. What words will you substitute for these? Or, will your blind hatred of a different culture and a different language force you to give up some of life's pleasures and necessities?
Will somebody please stop the world? I want to get off the idiot train!
Can I just curl into a ball and lie forgotten in a corner? Does anybody know what sarcasm is, anymore? Does anybody have a working neuron in their brain? Because this poll was rigged to see who would succumb to xenophobia and who would succumb to general ignorance. The xenophobic ones answered "No" and the ignorant ones answered "Yes." So, a pox on all their houses.
Arabic numbers are actually of Hindu origin. They were developed in India around 500 A.D., from where they were adopted by Arabs. They were further developed in Al-Khwarizmi's Bagdad, and then extended to northern Africa, where the Europeans adopted them for general use. We've been using them in Europe for about a thousand years. When I was a little girl, we were taught in school that our numbers come from the Arabic, and that they also developed the zero, which helped ever so much as a placement number (actually, the zero also came from India). We learned that at the same time as we learned our previous number system, the Roman numerals. Some people either have short memories or didn't pay attention in school.
The ones that responded to the xenophobic trigger are even worse. Just seeing the word "Arabic" triggered their system of automatic hatred. To them, anything tinged with the Middle East and the Arabian peninsula is automatically a work of the devil. Yet their beloved "American" language (actually, it's English, but try explaining that to some of these people) is peppered with Arabic words. I remember years ago there was a diplomatic problem with France, I forget the reason. At that time, some "patriots" suggested changing the name of "French fries" to "American fries." What would they do with all these words that come from the Arabic?
- coffee
- algebra
- alcohol
- candy
- check
- caliber
- guitar
- tariff
- sofa
- talcum
- racquet
- mattress
- mascara
- hazard
- gauze
- cotton
- cork
- arsenal
- admiral
- sugar
Take sugar with your coffee while you sit on your sofa and watch the Arsenal? You're using Arabic. What words will you substitute for these? Or, will your blind hatred of a different culture and a different language force you to give up some of life's pleasures and necessities?
Will somebody please stop the world? I want to get off the idiot train!
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