From: "Gary Wiltshire" 

On 19 Aug 2004 01:13:34 -0400, Gregg N  wrote:

> "Gary Britt"  wrote in
news:412428be{at}w3.nls.net:
>
>> Regarding what Arabs and Usama want (its Usama by the way not Osama.
>> Osama is how its spelled if he his a revered leader or holy man, Usama
>> is how its spelled when he's a murdering thug.
>
> Where did you hear this? His actual name isn't even written in the
> English
> alphabet at all, is it? I thought the "U" and "O"
versions were just
> alternative transliterations.
>
> Gregg

Classical Arabic only has three vowels: A, I and U.  There are dialects
with both E and O, but E/I and O/U are frequently conflated.

--
Gary Wiltshire

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