Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Büyükanit or The Name of the General

Just about to assure you that the Turkish military (slogan: Peace at home – Peace in the World) have not yet changed their understanding of democracy, by recommending to read this and this, my closest friend happened to drop in.


- Ah, General Büyükanit remembering his people of what party is de facto ruling Turkey?

- General Büyükanit is doing nothing but his duty.

- Which is – according to George Bernard Shaw – what a stupid man always declares when doing something he is ashamed of.

- Let’s be serious, Tetrapilotomos. There have 46,59 per cent been voting for the AKP.

- Thus 53,41 per cent voted for a putsch. Which is, by the way, bigger a margin than George Bush once could let his little brother organise in Florida.

- What are you going to tell, then?

- Nomen est omen, would you agree?

- Hm.

- Nomina sunt omina?

- Yes, yes , ...

- So let's look at Büyükanit.

- Oh, please, Tetrapilotomos, no jokes with names.

- I am just trying to inform those of your readers who unlike you are fluent in spoken and written English, but like you do not speak Turkish.

- We shall speak about this later on; without any emotional blockade and off the records. Go on then.

- All right, to cut it short: büyük means great; anit means memorial; thus, Büyükanit means Great memorial.

- Ah, isn’t it nice to have - even being - one’s own memorial in one’s lifetime?!

- I have not finished, yet. Would you agree that language is magic?

- I do, for the first time after a long interval.

- Now, a Turkish native speaker would perhaps know better. But, one can read General Greatmemorial’s name Büyük-anit and/or Büyü-kanit.

- Interesting. And what does this teach my readers?

- büyü means sorcery / witchcraft / witchery / wizardry; kanit means evidence / proof / argument; thus, Büyükanit means f.e. Evidence of Wizardry.

- And what is the essential inheritent interior essence which is hidden in the root of the kernel of everything, and thus in your words?

- Depending on what spell General Büyükanit will be casting when it’s coming to presidential election, once the Turkish people might build him a memorial – perhaps even in their collective memory.




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