“My name is Ahmed.”
“And your father’s name?”
“His name is Ali. But everybody calls him Mooryaan.”
James puts on the delightful smile of a man determined to redeem himself. “Mooryaan is a beautiful name, isn’t it?”
“My dad is a beautiful man.”
“A beautiful name for a handsome man.”
“My dad is handsome, a man’s man.”
Lool the part he says Mooryan is a beautiful name kills me, Nuruddin's sending for Habar Gidir, or maybe its all banter. What clan is he?“My father is famous in Mogadishu,” Ahmed says.
James asks, “What is your father famous for?”
“You say his name, everybody knows him.”
Pressing, he repeats, “But what’s he famous for?”
“Mooryaan is just a nickname.”
“But what does Mooryaan mean, in Somali?”
“Just a nickname between him and his friends,” Ahmed explains. “He is good-looking, and is now powerful, rich, and blessed with fifteen children— twelve boys, three girls—and four wives. Mooryaan is his famous nickname.”
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/ ... al_twitter
Seriously??? I don't know whether to laugh or cry. This is NOT writing. This is a third grade boy trying to write a composition, mistaken for an essay, masquerading a novel. Wow. Walaahi, any fool can write and publish I guess. Democracy has won. If I am not mistaken, he is an Ogaden, right? Why is he glorifying an insulting, derogatory term like 'Moryaan'? I mean, that word--among us 'contemporary' Somalis is equal to the word 'Ni.gger" . Yep, I know -- I am not laughing, nor crying, but disgusted.
