[Order Robert Spencer’s new book, ‘Intifada on the Hudson: The Selling of Zohran Mamdani’: CLICK HERE.]
While hysterical New Yorkers – and hysterical observers in places as far afield as Norway, where I live – are sweating over the likelihood that a foreign-born Muslim Communist will be elected mayor of New York on November 4, the preternaturally wise souls at the New York Times, in line with that storied daily’s long, valiant heritage (see “Duranty, Walter”), have been busy pondering the real issue.
On October 22, Mr. Sulzberger’s newspaper ran an “interactive” news article entitled “Why Can’t People Say Zohran Mamdani’s Name Correctly?” Bearing no fewer than four bylines – Emma G. Fitzsimmons, Benjamin Oreskes, Eden Weingart and Aliza Aufrichtig (in German, incidentally, aufrichtig means “sincere”) – the article provided readers with images and audio of several major political players mispronouncing the future mayor’s name. “Mr. Mamdani’s first and last name,” as the reporters put it, “have become the subject of rather adventurous, even creative, displays of linguistic fumbling.”
So we got to hear Andrew Cuomo, the former governor and the independent candidate in the mayoral contest, saying “Mandani” on one occasion and “Mandami” on another. (“His pronunciation,” the Times informs us, “was so notably off that, during a Democratic primary debate in June, the assemblyman himself, Zohran Mamdani, called him out on it.”) Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee for mayor, rendered it as “Zorhan Mandami,” thereby getting both first and last names wrong. Letitia James, the state’s distinguished Attorney General and a supporter of Mamdani, called him “Mandami.” The profoundly accomplished former mayor Bill de Blasio, another Mamdani ally, said “Zorhan.” President Trump said “Mamdami.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “Zamdami.” And another Mamdani enthusiast, Whoopi Goldberg, the international film icon and daily dispenser of political insight, went with “Mamdami.”
And so on.
For the four Times reporters, this piece about mispronunciation was obviously, in part, an exercise in whimsy. But it was something else: a deadly serious j’accuse. Mamdani, they noted, had expressed the view that “some people like Mr. Cuomo were intentionally mispronouncing his name or refusing to make an effort to say it correctly. ‘Those who go out of their way to mispronounce it – that’s not a mistake, that’s a message,’ he said.” Such disrespect, charged Mamdani, is “something countless immigrants have experienced,” and it happens because “it’s a way of saying someone doesn’t belong here.” After all, Mamdani complained, “Andrew Cuomo never struggles with names like John Catsimatidis” (the owner of the Gristede’s supermarket chain, who has called Mamdani a “clear and present danger” to New York City). “But somehow Mamdani is too difficult. It’s an issue of prejudice.”
The ever-judicious Times reporters appeared to agree. While fully accepting that de Blasio’s failure to get the candidate’s name right was not intentional – and citing an NYU linguistic professor to the effect that “both Mr. Mamdani’s first and last name feature letter arrangements and vowel sounds that are not common in English” – the Times reporters suggested that “President Trump’s failed efforts to say Mr. Mamdani’s name might be viewed less benevolently” than de Blasio’s honest error. Ditto Leavitt’s “outlandish pronunciation, merging parts of his first and last name.”
Well, I’ll make a confession. Usually I’m good with names. Kathryn Grayson, Katharine Hepburn, Catherine Zeta-Jones: once I’ve registered which spelling is the right one, I never have to check again. But I must confess that Mamdani broke me. The other day, when I was in the middle of banging out a review for FrontPage of Robert Spencer’s definitive new book about him, I realized that at some points in the draft I’d spelled his name Mamdani and at other points I’d spelled it Mandami. Unsure which was right, I had to look it up online and make the appropriate corrections.
I, too, then, have sinned.
But before judging me too harshly, take the following into account: I’ve gone through life seeing my name rendered as Bower or Bauer. In fact it’s Bawer. My genealogical researches have shown that originally, when my paternal grandfather was living in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was actually Bauer; somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic, however, it apparently changed magically to Bawer. It’s been rather a drag having to spell it for people all these years, but somehow I’ve survived.
And consider this: a century or so ago, another diehard Communist politician had the good sense to change his name from an impossible tongue-twister – Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili – to the far simpler, and more arresting, Stalin.
Still, I suppose that Mamdani is right: hearing people get your name wrong is “something countless immigrants have experienced.” And New York’s future mayor is, after all, an immigrant. Born in Kampala, he didn’t become an American citizen until 2018 – seven years ago. He continues to hold a Ugandan passport. And, as noted, he’s a devout Muslim (of the Shia variety) and a real-live Communist – issues that the Times has yet to address responsibly. Presumably the folks at the Times are too preoccupied with proper pronunciation to get around to pondering the potential impact of Mamdani’s political and religious convictions.
Then again, why should they? The Times’ target readers already know that Mamdani is a devotee of Muhammed and Marx – and by all indications, they’re totally on board with it. As Kerry Picket of that other Times – the one published in Washington – wrote on October 21, New York’s Democratic voters “think socialism and communism have gotten a bad rap but are now the future of both their city and their party.” Never mind, then, Mamdani’s recent description of Brooklyn imam Siraj Wahhaj (now there’s a tough name to pronounce) as “one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders and a pillar of the Bed-Stuy community” – this about a man with terrorist ties who supports jihad and the stoning of adulterers and has called homosexuality “a disease.”
But let’s conclude with the important issue: spelling and pronouncing names. Having wrestled with Mamdani’s name while reviewing Robert Spencer’s book, I think I’ll get it right from now on. And at the risk of blowing my own horn, let me add that there are other words that I’ve never misspelled and never will. Jihad. Dhimmi. Fatwa. Haram. Jizya. Kafir. Hijab. Niqab.
And oh, yes – let’s not forget Gulag. And always remember to capitalize it.
