Re: OT: needed: witty facts re: positive aspects of Islamic culture

on 4/8/08 4:26 PM, caeruleancentaur at caeruleancentaur@YAHOO.COM wrote:

>> Hanuman Zhang <zhang@...> wrote:
>
>> I am writing a blog post to counter all the blatantly Islamophobic
>> "conventional wisdom" and needed lil witty bonbons like Kurt
>> Vonnegut's "Do you think Arabs are dumb? They gave us our numbers.
>> Try doing long division with Roman numerals."
>
> Intending no disrespect to Mr. Vonnegut, a great writer, I hope I am
> not being pedantic to remark that our numerals are Indian
> in origin.  The Arabs only passed them on to us.  The Wikipedia article
> on "Arabic Numerals" states that, in Arabic, the numerals are
> called "Hindu numerals."
    Yes, but still it is a good summation, giving credit to the Spanish
Moors who did "give" the Europeans the Hindu number system as they modified
it - SEE _From One to Zero: A Universal History of Nyumbers_ by Georges
Ifrah, translated by Lowell Bair, 1985, Viking Penguin.

>
> And surely Hanuman Zhang means "bon mots" and not "bonbons."  I don't
> see any indication that his statement is intended as humorous.
    ;P~

> Charlie

--
Hanuman Zhang

                "A conservative is one who admires radicals centuries
                after they're dead." - Leo Rosten


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