Re: Osama or Usama?

[Mark Laurence <mlaurence@mindspring.com>]

On Sunday, October 7, 2001, at 10:41  PM, Jeremy Mixer wrote:

> On Mon, 8 Oct 2001, Larry A. Lovering wrote:
>
>> The BBC reports it as Usama, also reported in the downloadable 
>> document from
>> the British government that offers proof that bin Laden did it.
>
> Very fascinating........maybe it's one of those words like "color" vs.
> "colour"
>
> How does the Candien press spell it?

Just about every Canadian source I see spells his name Osama bin Laden, 
including Toronto's Globe and Mail, the CBC, and the Vancouver Sun.  
Montreal's French newspaper La Presse spells it Oussama ben Laden.

But I also found Osama bin Laden as the preferred spelling in major 
British news sites, including the BBC, the Times of London, and The 
Guardian.  So I'm not sure if the Usama spelling is very widespread even 
in that country.

The Boston Sunday Globe reported yesterday that most people in his very 
large family prefer the spelling Binladen.

Mark
mlaurence@mindspring.com