Arabs?

[Kingaroo]

Is it incorrect to refer to the people of Iraq, Iran, and all those other middle eastern countries (other than Israel) as Arabs? I know there's a country called United Arab Emirates and there's Saudi Arabia. I always thought the term Arab/arabic applied to that whole geographic area that shares genetic and religious background. Rather like Asian would applie to Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc. But I've also heard that only brainless bigots use the term so broadly and it shows they don't care enough to distinguish among nationalities.

[kempie]

"Arab" means different things to different people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab

http://www.aaiusa.org/arab_world.htm

BTW Iran is not an "Arab" nation.

[Ethel]

It is no more incorrect to call Iraqi's and Iranian's (for example) Arabs as it is to call British and French persons Europeans.

'Arab' is more than a religious and geoprapic distinction - it is also a language. Arabic speaking people might conisider themselves Arabs.

The following are considered to be Arab states:

* Algeria
* Bahrain
* Djibouti
* Egypt
* Iraq
* Jordan
* Kuwait
* Lebanon
* Libya
* Mauritania
* Morocco
* Oman
* Palestine
* Qatar
* Saudi Arabia
* Sudan
* Syria
* Tunisia
* United Arab Emirates
* Western Sahara (SADR)
* Yemen

Sadly, 'arab' was often used as a derogative term in the Western World, especially in the 19th century early part of the 20th century. Only brainless bigots would do so now.

[jno]

Persians (Iranians) and Arabs have been at odds for millennia - most recently in the Iran-Iraq war. I don't think you can call Iranians Arabs, whatever language they speak - you wouldn't call Americans 'English' just because that's what they speak.

[Xollob]

kempie's link to the Wikipedia page is helpful here, but if you want to get an idea of the passions that are aroused by the term "Arab", have a look at the discussion page to this article. Non-Arab Iran/Persia is another can of terminological worms.

[Xollob]

Slight tangent: does anybody remember being called a "mucky arab" as a child? This could be a regional thing - in my case Lancashire in the 1960s. I'd like to think it wasn't racist. It normally involved remnants of jam butty round the mouth. Google hits for the term are negligible, but for some reason I still remember this phrase after all these years.

[maxi29]

Iranians aren't only not Arabs, they don't speak Arabic either. They speak Persian - even the alphabet's different, they use Farsi rather than the Arabic one.

[Octavius]

xollob I remember a dinner lady at school calling me a "thieving arab" once. I don't think it was particularly nasty at the time, but I don't believe it is appropriate now.

Here is a good article: http://www.slate.com/id/1008394/

[jno]

I was told that Muslims have to learn Arabic to study the Koran; I don't know if this is true, does anyone else? But Farsi, not Arabic, is Iranians' own language, and they're completely different. Arabic is closer to Hebrew - and Arabs are closer to Jews, as they're semitic too, so it sounds odd when people call Arabs 'anti-Semitic'.

[mccfluff]

my mum used to call me a dirty arab, but we were living in morocco then, pretty sure is v inappropriate now

[Octavius]

Muslims not speaking Arabic will normally stick to an Arabic version of the Koran. Most of them will learn how to read Arabic text, and learn some Arabic words, and then read the Koran accordingly. In general, Muslims will agree that the Koran can never be correctly translated, and that the Arabic original is the only version that is correct.

Approximately 800,000 Arab Jews (Mizrahi) lived in the Middle East prior to 1948. In modern times Anti-Semitism now purely refers to hostility toward or prejudice against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group.

[MustafaTinkl]

There are millions of Arabs, half of whom are men. Of these it is safe to say that there are at least 50,000 men who would simply love the opportunity to qualify for 72 virgins. But where are all these virgins going to come from? Certainly not Wigan.

[mike b]

Before they seriously fell out with the Americans, I'm sure we used to call them Irani, which is what they call themselves. Probably a good job the USA hasn't yet got too involved with the Pakistanians. Incidentally, I hope it is just a joke that a US diplomat once asked "Which is the correct pronunciation anyway - is it Irani or Iraqi?"...!

[tingirl]

Hello - Iranians aren't Arabs, their language isn't Arabic, but Farsi, which is an Indo-European language. Iran used to be referred as Persia, and consisted of many religions, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Bahaii, Catholicism and also Judaism.

'Iran' actually means 'land of the Aryans' - have a look into Iran's genetic background, you may be surprised!

hope this is some use :)

[Booldawg]

Is it incorrect to refer to the people of Britain as Brits? after all, when the same method of shorting the word 'Pakistani' is seen as derogative, how is this different and why?