Re: [alreq] Section on Background of Arabic Numerals (#131)

So long as there is no potential confusion in the reader's min as to the distinction between "Westernized Arab Regions" and "Western Arab Region". ;-)
Jokes aside, it is awkward as a descriptive term; non-idiomatic, a little odd perhaps, to some.
The appellation "North African" in English common parlance generally includes Tunis, Algeria, and Morocco, and with a bit of stretch, even Libya.
see https://www.britannica.com/place/North-Africa
Personally I like the term bilad as short hand for that part of the Arab world, as used by French-speaking North Africans.
Also, this "Eastern Arab Region" nomenclature is a bit strange, too, As an Egyptian, I would take such a term to refer to the Gulf states or Oman.
I certainly would hesitate to consider Egypt, Palestine, Syria, or Lebanon as located in the "Eastern Arab Region" -- maybe Jordan, on the outside -- wherever that "region" may be, exactly.
Syria is called Bilad el Sham... so the term bilad does carries more of a universal authentic locale (not local) flavor, than the antiseptic regional alternative.
Bilad El Arab is how the whole Arab world is generally known or referred to, or of course, 'El Umma' -- but that has connotations that you many not want to introduce in a technical document.
Generally the more central part of the Arab world is traditionally referred to as the "Middle East," as we all know -- though that, too, has lingering, unpleasant English and French colonial associations.
Yet, in Ar., we still see
https://aawsat.com/
Sadly, even El Sharq El Awsat uses so-called "Arabic Numerals" in their Arabic language copy. Thus are cultures lost, if I may editorialize.
I don't know if any of this helps, or just further confuses things, or simply sounds like Captain Obvious rattling on.

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‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
On Wednesday, June 23rd, 2021 at 5:09 PM, Shervin Afshar ***@***.***> wrote:

> Okay. So our document is not using "Moor" at the moment and we are not planning to use it. The document is using "Western Arab regions" vs. "Eastern Arab regions" predominantly in geographical terms. So the simile to Mexican inventing things that someone dubbing it "Spanish Invention" is unclear to me. The document also is not recommending use of "Western Arabic Numbers" to refer to ASCII numeral. Having said that, I'm open to hear a more detailed clarification.
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Received on Wednesday, 23 June 2021 22:19:36 UTC