Tim Blair

What's the difference between Hillary Clinton and Saddam Hussein? Apparently Saddam doesn't use a ghostwriter.

Thanks for making me laugh Tim.

Who would be the 'bitch'? Yeah, like we really have to ask

"It was virtually impossible to translate into English because I had to chop up these endless sentences."

Could Saddam be moonlighting as Margo Kingston?

"Could Saddam be moonlighting as Margo Kingston?"

Hm. That explains the moustache.

That was too funny! That last sentence caught me totally by surpise.

I can certainly see Galloway & Saddam fighting over who gets to be the Saddamite, who gets Saddamized. I presume the argument would come to blows.

Yeah, but does Harold Pinter speak when Saddam drinks water?
Sorry - couldn't help it...

And how many of you wise men have actually read Naguib Mahfouz?

Yeah, I thought so.

And... your point is? No one here said anything pro or con re Mafouz -- the reference to said author came from Saddam's former interpreter. Since you seem, Dorkus, to have trouble reading a simple passage in plain English, I have the feeling you haven't read any Naguib Mafouz either.

Harsh.

Also, see headline.

Yeah. See "quoting." Look it up on dictionary.com.

Then check out this site for "let's have a snigger at his funny Arab name". Hee! Who dat A-rab?

Also, let me know next time Tim wins the Nobel Prize for literature.

(Note for "ignoranti" — this may be what Mahfouz is famous for.)

Who was having a "snigger" at anyone's name here? You know, I think you should refrain from reading things on the internet while drunk.

By the way, do you even know who Naguib Mahfouz is? Why don't you tell me the titles and plots of the works of his you have read? Which ones would you recommend to us ignorant ones? Or are you simply talking out of your ass, as I suspect?

Do I even know who Naguib Mahfouz is? Why the fuck should I tell an idiot like you anything, much less write a book report for you to sneer at? Here's another word for your myfirstdictionary.com perusal: "editorialising". And while we're here, (a) "you don't agree with my interpretation of a sentence", so (b) "you must not understand English too well", thus (c) "you haven't read Mahfouz/ are talking out of your arse, you are drunk, (etc., etc.), is a wonderful argument.

That said, why don't you try the Cairo trilogy? Admirers of the nineteenth century French and Russian novel (which is more or less the high-water mark of the form) frequently find these books congenial.

So I'm an idiot for pointing out your stupidity, huh, Dorkus? I notice you didn't even answer my question as to who was making fun of anyone's name (except yours, which is not Arabic). In fact, you changed the subject every time -- when asked you what your point was in asking if anyone here had read Mahfouz, you came back with "See the headline!" which did not answer the question, since the headline merely contained that author's name, and in fact this entire post said nothing one way or the other about Mahfouz. It only (as I will repeat since you seem -- ooh, personal attack coming! -- to be rather dense) quoted another person comparing Saddam Hussein's writing skills unfavorably to those of Naguib Mahfouz. In other words, Tim Blair quoted a passage of someone using Naguib Mahfouz as a touchstone of good writing. NO ONE here, including the commenters, made fun of or otherwise criticized Naguib Mahfouz, or otherwise said anything one way or another about the man's writing. You saw an insult that wasn't there, and you continued in your delusional state to see other insults that weren't there.

In short, you came here, trolled, and got slammed for it, and like the typical troll your teensy ego can't take it. Go piss up a rope.

Oh, and thanks so much for the book recommendation.

Man, it's so harsh to be unfavourably compared to that fellow with the A-rab name who nobody has ever heard of. Snicker, snicker! Promising career cut short! No Naguib! Let's use his first name only, (only quoting!), it makes for better symmetry with "Saddam"! Tee hee! Snork, snork!

What part of back-of-the-hand snicker don't you understand?

Still, maybe you didn't get the joke, in which case you are excused.

I only get jokes that are funny and make sense, moron.