You may know Rabia Choudry by her softly spoken voice on the podcast Serial - she is the attorney and journalist behind Adnan Syed's bid for freedoom.
She is also a Muslim woman, who speaks publicly issues of Islamophobia (among other things) in the U.S.
She is one of many American Muslims (and Arabic speakers) who have noticed a weird phenomenon on TV. Namely news anchors and presenters mispronouncing 'Allahu Akbar' when reporting on terror incidents.
This week, New York experienced the most deadly terror attack since 9/11. The alleged perpetrator is said to have shouted 'Allahu Akbar' whilst carrying out his devastating attack on innocent people.
The Arabic term means, 'God is the greatest', and is used during prayer and even by Arabic-speaking Christians.
Chaudry and others have pointed out that it is a completely peaceful term that has been unfortunately linked to the most cowardly of attacks.
They also have pointed out, something else.
Many non-Arabic speaking news anchors and public figures are pronouncing 'Allahu' phonetically as 'al-oo,' which is a word meaning potato. So, with this mispronouncement of the phrase as 'Aloo Akbar,' these news anchors and politicians are actually saying 'potatoes are the greatest'.
As you can see, that isn't ideal.
Daisy Murray is the Digital Fashion Editor at ELLE UK, spotlighting emerging designers, sustainable shopping, and celebrity style. Since joining in 2016 as an editorial intern, Daisy has run the gamut of fashion journalism - interviewing Molly Goddard backstage at London Fashion Week, investigating the power of androgynous dressing and celebrating the joys of vintage shopping.
