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"This is kinda weird."

Has anyone noticed that whenever there is a report or statement made about Saddam Hussein, he's referred to as "Saddam" and not "Hussein". Bush, Blair, Churchill, Bin Laden, Stalin, Hitler, Lenin - all important politically and historically, but it's just...odd...that Saddam gets spoken about in a way that would make him seem more friendly and endearing than he probably is (I wouldn't know, I've never met him - he might be a nice guy, give him a chance).

He's called Saddam because people might confuse him with Nasa. Especialy Dubya.

I was flicking about the news area of Sky the other day, and came across that.
It was in English, and was a report on the World Chinese Checkers tournament in... China.

On a completely different note, but news related, anyone with Sky ever watched CCTV9 or whatever it's called, its like Chinese news, in English. Very surreal.

I think Snuggly is right, but then again how you see Saddam referred to is more a case of what you read/listen to/watch.

Not being political I can't back this up, but I'm guessing it's because Hussein is a common name and there are other political figures with the same name. Not many Churchills or Hitlers. If the Prime Minister was called John Smith, people wouldn't call him just 'Smith', would they? Mind you, he wouldn't get called just 'John' either. What was I talking about?

It's use of language; using someone's first name generally denotes familiarity, whereas use of their last name generally denotes respect.

What better to destroy somebodies aura of...well, whatever they're trying to project, than to refer to them by their first name?

Rosalind wrote:
> Saddam and Galileo
>
> two very different men

Yeah, Queen wrote a song about one of them.

"Magnifico-oh-oh-oh-ooooooooooooooh"

Probably because so many people know someone called Hussein.

Saddam and Galileo

two very different men

That is weird.
Suits you then. :D