[O]n Monday the National Weather Service issued a warning for people in Lubbock: A Haboob is rapidly approaching the Lubbock airport and may affect the city as well. Except, rather than expressions of thanks for warning them of a giant storm headed their way, some Texans became aggravated by one particular word: haboob. The Washington Post picked up comments on Facebook, some of which appear to have since been deleted.
I lived in The Lone Brain Cell Star State long enough to develop an appreciation of the peculiarly Texan penchant for reacting to the most seemingly innocent, mundane things with a truly prodigious righteous outrage. In this case, the reflexive, knee-jerk anger over and disdain for anything perceived to be “Muslim” has led to a rather comical rejection of a common weather term used for decades.
“Haboob” is a word derived from Arabic, to be sure…but to assume or infer evil intent on the part of the meteorological community seems a stretch, knowhutimean? It’s a word used to describe a weather phenomenon, not a code word intended to signal the impending impostion of Sharia law upon good, God-fearing, Christian patriots who want nothing to do with Islam. ‘MERICA!!!
As any reasonable (i.e., non-Republican Texan) might understand, a “haboob” is a word used by weather geeks to describe what’s more colloquially known as a sand storm. Then again, not even reality is enough to convince patriotic Texans that the National Weather Service isn’t colluding with radical Islamofascists to destroy Christendom.
Haboob!?! I’m a Texan. Not a foreigner from Iraq or Afghanistan. They might have haboobs but around here in the Panhandle of TEXAS, we have Dust Storms. So would you mind stating it that way. I’ll find another weather service.
Right; we’re not foreigners here; we’re ‘MERICANS!!…so why should ‘Mericans be using foreign words?
Perhaps someone should explain to these fine example of Texas intellectual acrobatics that most of the English language is derived from “foreign” words.
In Texas, nimrod, this is called a sandstorm. We’ve had them for years! If you would like to move to the Middle East you can call this a haboob. While you reside here, call it a sandstorm. We Texans will appreciate you.
If you’re seriously going to argue that using “haboob” is somehow proof a person should move to the Middle East, I’d caution you to think twice before blithely tossing “nimrod” about as a way to ridicule someone’s perceived lack of intellectual agility. Then again, self-awareness rarely walks hand in hand with self-righteous and vacuousness. Especially in God’s Country Texas.
In over 50 yrs of my life that had been a sand storm. We live in Texas which is in the US not the Middle East.
Right; in case any of y’all might have found yourself in need of a remedial Geography lesson, there you have it. Texas is in the U.S., which is NOT the Middle East. Capice??
There may be a pop quiz later….
It’s good to know that there are those fine, upstanding ‘Merican guardians of the English language willing to shine a spotlight on the heresy of the National Weather Service. If no one called the weather geeks out for their obvious pro-Islam, anti-American intentions (demonstrated by their use of a “foreign” word), how long would it be before we’d all bowing towards Mecca five times a day? How long before we’d be under the collective thumb of Islamofascists and forced to conform to the anti-freedom dictates of Sharia??
Allahu Akbar!! Or something like that….
Meanwhile, on Facebook, a number of readers posted strongly worded retorts to those who posted complaints about the Weather Service’s use of the term in Lubbock:
Reader Trent Spencer said: “I keep forgetting how ignorant the people of the Panhandle can be.”
And Charles Russell added: “To all of you people complaining about a word. Do you all realize how stupid y’all look? I mean, the rest of the country and the world is laughing at y’all. … [S]top getting offended over nothing. It’s super annoying to the civilized world.”
Perhaps we should assist these patriots in putting their fervor and love of country to good use. Surely, some good, God-fearing Republican Congressman could find the money to pay these folk to weed any godless “foreign” words out of the English language? And perhaps they might want to advocate for getting rid of Arabic numerals (it’s a Middle Eastern thing, don’tchaknow??). We could go back to using Roman numerals…right? Hey, if it’s good enough for the NFL and the Super Bowl, it should be good enough for patriotic, God-fearing ‘Mericans.
This would certainly make communication far less complicated…because our native tongue would ultimately be reduced to about 14 words. I suppose we could augment those words with audible grunts. That should help, eh?
‘MERICA!!!
