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September 16, 2004
"Pajamahadeen": A Word Is Born
(Jimmy Akin)
Tech is giving us a whole bunch of new words that are becoming fixtures and entering dictionaries (major, dead-tree dictionaries, at that). One such word is "blog," which did not exist before December 1997.
The last few days have seen the advent of a new word that has the potential to become a fixture: "pajamahadeen."
It isn't yet listed in any dictionaries. Not even Google has it indexed at the moment, though that will swiftly change. The term is spreading through the blogosphere.
"Whence cometh 'pajamahadeen'?" you may be wondering if you haven't been reading blogs following the unfolding CBS phony memo scandal.
It appears to have been coined by Jim Geraghty of Kerry Spot. Here's why:
A few days ago on FOX News, former CBS News executive V.P. Jonathan Klein spoke dismissively of the bloggers who were absolutely slaying the credibility of CBS's phony memo story. Specifically, he said:
You couldn't have a starker contrast between the multiple layers of check and balances [at '60 Minutes'] and a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing.
Indignant bloggers, very few of whom admit to wearing pajamas, had endless fun with this. In the end, they adopted pajamas as the official uniform of bloggers and images like this one started showing up on blogs:
So much for the "pajama" part of "pajamahadeen." Whence the "-hadeen" part?
As you may surmise, it's from the Arabic word "mujahedeen," which is sometimes translated "fighters" or "strugglers." Those translations, though, are whitewashes of what the term really means. "Mujahedeen" is the plural of "mujahed." Arabic words (like Hebrew and Aramaic words) tend to be built around three consonants with various prefixes, suffixes, and vowels applied. The prefix "mu-" is often used to form words referring to a person who is or does something, and the three consonant root of "mujahed" is J-H-D.
Know what other Arabic word that has passed into English currency has the root J-H-D?
That's right: "jihad."
In the most literal sense, "jihad" means "struggle," but because it has been used (since the time of Muhammad) to refer to the duty Muslims (note the "mu-" prefix; same deal) have to struggle for Islam--often by force of arms--it has come to have the principal meaning "holy war."
Thus if we were to give a translation of "mujahedeen" that captures the resonance it has for the Muslim community, it would be "jihadists" or "holy warriors."
So: "pajamahadeen" = "pajama" + "mujahedeen," the pajama-clad holy warriors of the blogosphere.
This probably would be rendered less colorfully in a future dictionary entry. Perhaps: "Webloggers who aggressively analyze and attack their opponents' arguments."
If you want to see a picture of the pajamahadeen in action, check out this cartoon (click to enlarge):
The original source of this is IMAO.us, which also features a digitally enhanced "special edition" of the cartoon, a la George Lucas.
BTW, if you look around IMAO.us, be sure to bear in mind Rulz 6 and 7.
(Now if I could just convince fellow bloggers to use my coinage "popularity crash" for what happens when too much traffic comes to a web site and makes it inaccessible; e.g., due to a Drudge story linking it.)
Posted by Jimmy Akin in Languages | Permalink
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Listed below are links to weblogs that reference "Pajamahadeen": A Word Is Born:
» Q. What to do today? from Susie-QA
First things first, get dressed. Yes, though Iam a lowly homeschoolblogger,I lookmore like one of the pajamahadeen today.
[Read More]
Tracked on Dec 31, 2005 6:44:38 AM
» Q. What to do today? from Susie-QA
First things first, get dressed. Yes, though Iam a lowly homeschoolblogger,I lookmore like one of the pajamahadeen today.
[Read More]
Tracked on Dec 31, 2005 6:45:57 AM
Comments
pajamahadeen = pajama warrior
Posted by: Brian Day | Sep 16, 2004 12:31:08 PM
Remember that the -een form is plural.
A single pajama warrior would be a pajamahed.
Multiple pajama warriors would be pajamahadeen.
Posted by: Jimmy Akin | Sep 16, 2004 12:36:33 PM
And don't forget Allahpundit, the Photoshop Deity - it was either himself or one of his readers who gave us ``Mujahid-Dean'' during the Democratic primaries last winter.
Posted by: Anne | Sep 16, 2004 1:21:08 PM
SO funny how people are taking to using superscript in "Dan RaTHer." See also "RaTHerGate." :D
Posted by: Steven D. Greydanus | Sep 16, 2004 1:29:45 PM
"...multiple layers of check and balances..."
rotfl!
Posted by: Billy | Sep 16, 2004 5:39:10 PM
The term normally used is a version of avalanche. As in "Instalance" if being linked to by Instapundit. Powerline's recent Drudgalanche was the first one I know of where Drudge linked to a blog.
Posted by: Jeff Miller | Sep 16, 2004 7:02:29 PM
Jimmy - you're turning into a regular Jeff Miller. This is great.
Posted by: cathy | Sep 17, 2004 8:23:02 AM
OK - pajama warriors! I sit corrected.
Jeff,
For the geek inclined, it's called being slashdotted ( /. ), or the slashdot effect.
Posted by: Brian Day | Sep 17, 2004 10:56:50 AM
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