Talk:Ali Baba

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"The lead thief pretends to be an oil merchant in need of Ali Baba's hospitality, bringing with him mules loaded with forty oil jars, one filled with oil, the other thirty-nine with the other thieves (the missing members were the scouts previously sent to find the house, who were killed for their failure)." 1 thief in front + 39 in jars = 40. what is this about missing members? There is no mention that this story, and in fact the entire book of 1001 Nights is a Persian story, that was later adopted and translated into Arabic (who then unethically changed the title to 1001 Arabian Nights. The book and its stories should be rightfully credit as being Persian and not Arabic!

Contents 1 Open Sesame 2 Mainstream Press? 3 Iraq War 4 Headline text 5 Usage in Malaysia 6 Use In Iraq War

[edit] Open Sesame

m What is the phrase in the original Arabic; is "Open Sesame" a literal translation, or a phoenetic one? --DropDeadGorgias (talk) 21:35, 10 October 2005 (UTC)

I believe "Open Tahini!" would be a literal translation. The IPA characters for the Arabic might look like "if'tax tax'in!" where "ax" comes close to the German "ach." The simple iambic rhythm gains a mysterious tension from the inner alliterative repetition, the anacrusis... By comparison, the feeble English "Open Sesame" seems phonetically too weak to be a proper magical command. Just plain Bill 02:32, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

Open sesame in Arabic would be "Iftah Ya Simsim" that's the literal translation and I have heard it used many times used in some cartoons, but that was a long time ago and I was very young RadicalSatDude 17:52, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

If "Open Sesame" is a translation, of any type (literal or phonetic), it is still quite interesting that it sounds like "Open Says Me". Was this translation chosen on purpose, because of that play on words, or is this coincidental? I know that many cartoon sketches played upon this with characters attempting different phrases. Spooons 13:34, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

it's a direct translation from arabian nights. here: Then dragging two sacks up the stone staircase he backed into the cave door. 'Open, Wheat!' he said irritably. But nothing happened.

'Oh, sorry. Open, Barley!' he said, certain that he had chosen the correct cereal.

But nothing happened.

The commonest words are the most difficult to remember: he recited all the crops he could think of, but the magic words 'Open Sesame' we as lost in his memory as a pin dropped in the sea.

-Colorfulharp233 21:43, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

I've read that sesame was chosen as the magical cereal because it is a mild laxative. What's a folk tale without some good old fashioned toilet humor? Asat 03:18, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

-- "Open Sesame" in Arabic is افتح يا سمسم Eftax ya semsem , x means a letter between the German ach and H , also I wanted to say that 1000 nights and night is an Arabic story perhaps with Indian and Persian roots even though a lot of stories have been added to the tale from Arabic heritage and folk stories .By the way the oldest version of 1000 nights and night remind is from the 9th century and if you can read Arabic you can see the structure of the poems in the tale is different than Persian poems Aziz1005 22:52, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mainstream Press?

Would the statment about the mainstream press count as an opinion? There seems to be no support for it offered in the article or links, doesn't that violate wikipedia standards?

I won't change it, because I don't really know the answer, it just seems suspect.

--68.223.54.80 22:11, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

There is no mention that this story, and in fact the entire book of 1001 Nights is a Persian story, that was later adopted and translated into Arabic (who then unethically changed the title to 1001 Arabian Nights. The book and its stories should be rightfully credit as being Persian and not Arabic.

[edit] Iraq War

Is it strictly acurate to refer to the Iraq war as a war on Islam? I know some people have that interpretation (Both some people in the Arab world and the ignorant westerners who make the assumption Muslim=terrorist) I propose that simply 'War in Iraq' would be more acurate, possibly dated to distinguish it from the first gulf war. Edited to add: Looking at the history it appears that this was a recent change, probably in reaction to the fact that the previous text refered to the US and allies as 'Friendly forces' which is either NPOV in itself or just innacurate for a global encylopedia. Edited again: I'll try and NPOV it a bit. If anyone disputes my changes then just speak up here. --JamesGlover 00:23, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Headline text

hey i don't get the open sec3eni thing can u help me{| class="wikitable" |- ! header 1 ! header 2 ! header 3 |- | row 1, cell 1 | row 1, cell 2 | row 1, cell 3 |- | row 2, cell 1 | row 2, cell 2 | row 2, cell 3 |}

[edit] Usage in Malaysia

In the article Ketuanan Melayu, we read: 'Many Bumiputra contractors in turn subcontracted their jobs to others, who were in some cases Chinese; "Ali Baba" arrangements with "the Malay [Ali] using his privileges to acquire licences and permits denied the non-Malay, then accepting a fee to be the front-man while the non-Malay [Baba] ran the business," were prevalent.'

Note that 'Ali' is a common Malay name, and that the 'Babas' of Melaka are Malayanised Chinese, descendants of Chinese traders who intermarried with Malays, at and before the time of the Portuguese there. So the 'Ali Baba' of the term is a punning combination of the two parties, rather than the name of a single individual.

That article links here; should this article either link there, or provide a similar statement? Opinions, please! yoyo 02:44, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

If the oldest version of 1001 nights is Arabic, because Arabs burnt the persian versions when Iran was invaded by Arabs. There are some Arabic or Indian stories in 1001 nights, but main Characters and more than 80% of this story are iranian. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.154.36.62 (talk) 13:42, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Use In Iraq War

As of 2008, the term "Ali Baba" is used in Iraq to refer to "robbers" or bandits (of any sort). It is most frequently used during enforcement of the "one man / one gun" rule which allows for one gun per fighting age adult male to protect against robbers. The term is used because (perhaps through previous use by coalition forces) it is a common term understandable to both troops and civilians. -- my main citation is personal experience, however I was able to find one article that eludes to it. http://www.idahostatesman.com/216/story/9326.html I'm not good with wiki-code so I am putting it in here, in hopes that it will be added as appropriate —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.82.11.15 (talk) 11:48, 3 March 2008 (UTC)