Afghans in America

The U.S. has a problem with Afghans. No, this discussion is not about politics or war; it’s about language. To be precise, it’s about what Americans call the people of Afghanistan. Here are excerpts from two news stories that will illustrate Ms. Picky’s concern here:

“. . . . An Afghani, Qatari and Yemeni are also being tried by a Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh, the news service said.”

—“Saudi Court Tries Militants for Planning Attacks on U.S. Troops,” Glen Carey, Bloomberg.com, September 19, 2011

“. . . President Nicolas Sarkozy suspended operations with the Afghan army and said France may withdraw its troops from the country after an Afghan soldier killed four of its military personnel, the second time in a month an Afghan soldier has killed French troops.”

—“Clinton Speaks to France’s Juppe over Possible Afghan Pullout,” Gregory Viscusi, Bloomberg.com, January 22, 2012 

You see the inconsistency. . . .

Ms. Picky does not mean to suggest that it is only Bloomberg that is guilty of such inconsistency. The problem is widespread. It’s a spelling choice that seems to flummox Americans totally. Are both Afghan and Afghani correct? If not, which is? 

Why can’t we Americans work it out and get it right? Ms. Picky has one idea. . . .

As far back as the 1700s, there was a Persian word for the people who inhabited Afghanistan. The word was Afghans. 

In the 1800s, when shawls were worn by fashionable women in the West, many men who traveled to Persia, India, or Afghanistan brought home shawls as gifts for their wives or daughters. The most well-known of the shawls were the paisleys, but Afghanistan was also known for its weaving, and its shawls, especially those of karakul wool, which Europeans took to calling simply “afghans,” an adaptation of the name of the country of their origin. As the years passed, so did the fashion, but the generic name for a small shawl or lap robe, afghan, survived.

In the mid-1900s, crocheting was first practiced, as a form of needlework. Women began stitching together patchworks of colorful, four-by-four-inch crocheted florets, which they referred to by the generic name “afghan.” (We remember them today as something our grandmothers made.) Indeed, the Oxford English Dictionary defines “afghan” as “A blanket or wrap of knitted or crocheted wool” (although, admittedly, this is its second definition, after the name for the people of Afghanistan). 

In the East, in the language of a number of Middle and Near Eastern countries, the syllable “stan” means “land,” and an “i” or an “e” before the “stan” indicates possession. or “belonging to.” Afghanistan, then, is “home of the Afghans,” Kazakhstan is “home of the Kazakhs,” Uzbekistan is “home of the Uzbeks,” and so on.* 


By this rule, a person who lives in Afghanistan is properly called an Afghan. (The currency of Afghanistan, however, is the “afghani.”)

Americans, however, whose grandmothers crocheted afghans, just cannot make themselves call a people by what they perceive as the name of a blanket. (Some even consider that it might be offensive.) Thus the American confusion over what to call the people of Afghanistan. The blanket association is, in fact, so universal in the United States that there is even a humanitarian organization called “Afghans for Afghans,” whose members crochet and knit blankets, sweaters, hats, and gloves to send to Afghan children in need in that war-torn country.

But all you need remember is that Afghans (upper case) are people, afghans (lower case) are blankets, and afghanis are banknotes. . . .

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*Pakistan does not follow the same rule, because its name is a modern contrivance rather than an ancient name; its name means “Land of the Pure.”

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Bulletin Board

“That begs the question how they will handle the search giant absorbing the no-margin, slower-growing handset business that Google agreed to buy in August.”

—“Heard on the Street: Google to Dial Up Slower Growth,” Rolfe Winkler, wsj.com, January 21, 2012

Ms. Picky has addressed this error before. “To beg the question” does not mean to raise the question; the expression  comes from philosophy and is an example of  a “logical fallacy”—a particular error in reasoning that occurs when one assumes a statement to be true without any other evidence than the statement itself, e.g, “He’s stupid because he’s not very smart.”

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“When Mitt Romney releases his tax returns, as he is expected to do on Tuesday, thousands of green eyeshades will pour over every line.”
—“Romney and the Burden of Double Taxation,” John Berlau and Trey Kovacs, wsj.com, January 24, 2012

Unless the green eyeshades Messrs. Berlau and Kovacs are referring to are very syrupy accountants, they could not pour over every line; they would have to pore over every line. Pore means to study or concentrate on, whereas pour means to cause a liquid to flow. One pours orange juice and coffee, but pores over the Sunday paper.

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