LEWIS Quotes

“the word Firavun `Pharaoh' is thought to be Arabic, whereas it is Turkish, being derived from burun `nose an organ protruding in front of a person. As the sovereign is a personage going in front of the society, in Egypt he was called The Nose. In the course of time, this word burun became altered to Firavun ... The Professor in fact attained God's mercy without managing to escape from the disease of fakery.”
― Geoffrey Lewis, The Turkish Language Reform: A Catastrophic Success

“The trouble was that, although Atatiirk liked nothing better than a good argument, none of his intimates had the guts to say `Very amusing as an after-dinner game, Pasha, but we mustn't take it too seriously, must we?' On the contrary, they
played the same game. This being long before the age of political correctness, Samih Rifat, the president of TDK, found the origin of the Western word academy in the Turkish ak `white' and adam [A] `man'.”
― Geoffrey Lewis, The Turkish Language Reform: A Catastrophic Success

“the only word one can think of that it might fail to enunciate correctly is agabey (elder brother), pronounced /abi/, and a thorough programmer could take care of that.”
― Geoffrey Lewis, The Turkish Language Reform: A Catastrophic Success

“at the word level, Turkish is a dream come true for a computer speech synthesizer. (Negroponte 1995: 145)”
― Geoffrey Lewis, The Turkish Language Reform: A Catastrophic Success

“On the theme of the bewilderment of ordinary people when confronted by speakers of Ottoman, there is the tale of the sarrkli hoca (the turbanned cleric), who, wishing to buy some mutton, addresses a butcher's boy with the words Ty sagird-i l:assab, lahm-i ganeniden bitki ve bilvexin band 'ita cyler misin?' (0 apprentice of the butcher, wilt thou bestow on me one oke avoirdupois of ovine flesh?). The perplexed boy can only reply 'Amin!' (Amen!).”
― Geoffrey Lewis, The Turkish Language Reform: A Catastrophic Success

“The title of the article sums up his argument very neatly: `Arap Harflerini de Cebrail Getirmemisti ya' (Gabriel didn't bring the Arabic letters too, you know) (Levend 1972: 397).”
― Geoffrey Lewis, The Turkish Language Reform: A Catastrophic Success

“These articles urged the gradual adoption of the Latin alphabet and prophesied that the change was bound to come. The writer propounded a problem, and invited a reply from the $eyhulislatn or the Fetva Emini:7
Franstzlar lslamiyetin esaslarnu pek makul bularak millet4e ihtida etmek istiyorlar! Acaba onlari Miisluman addedebilmek icin o pek zarif dillerinin Arap harfleriyle yazthnasi tart-t esasi mi ittihaz edilecek? 'Evet' cevabini beklemedigim halde alusam kemal-i cesar- etle'Siz bu zihniyetle diinyayi Musluman edemezsiniz' mukabelesinde bulunurum,'Hayir, beis yok' cevabtnt alirsam:'Biz Turklerin de Latin harflerini kullamnamiza miisaade bah. eder bir fetva veriniz' ricastnt serdedecegitn. Hayir, Fransizlar ne kadar az Arap iseler, biz de o kadar az Arabiz.
The French, finding the principles of our religion very reasonable, wish to convert en masse to Islam! Before they can be accepted as Muslims, will it be obligatory for that very elegant language of theirs to be written in the Arabic letters? I do not expect the answer to be'Yes', but if it is I shall make so bold as to reply,'With this mentality you cannot make the world Muslim.' If I am given the answer'No, there is no harm in it' l shall make this request:'Give a fetva permitting us Turks also to use the Latin letters.' No, we are no more Arab than the French are.”
― Geoffrey Lewis, The Turkish Language Reform: A Catastrophic Success

“The result is that pure Turkish words written in Arabic letters are often hardly intelligible even to Turks and it is usual to employ Arabic synonyms as much as possible because there is no doubt as to how they should be read.' An example of what he had in mind is shown by the words rnhmd p?s? ?wldy, which may be read as `Mehmed papa oldu' (Mehmed became a pasha) or `Mehmed Pasa oldii' (Mehmed Pasha died). If you meant the former, you would resort to a circumlocution such as `Mehmed was elevated to the rank of Pasha'. If you meant the latter, you would write `Mehmed Pasha departed this world and journeyed to Paradise', `Mehmed Pasha attained God's mercy', or at the very least `Mehmed Pasha expired'.”
― Geoffrey Lewis, The Turkish Language Reform: A Catastrophic Success

“The author was told by Fahir Iz that, during his military service in the neighbourhood of Erzurum just before the Second World War, he had got into conversation with a shepherd, whom he shocked by using the words `Biz Torkler' (We Turks). `Estagfurullah!' was the reply, `Ben Torkiim, zat-i aliniz Osmanlismrz' (Lord have mercy! I'm a Turk; Your Excellency is an Ottoman).”
― Geoffrey Lewis, The Turkish Language Reform: A Catastrophic Success