b instead of p

[Bosco 1]

link to article

It Just Looks Like a ####### Pump Mom

08.24.2006, 06:17 PM

A Cook County judge has decided there is enough evidence to prosecute

a man who says an airport security guard misheard him when she

thought he said that a sexual device in his backpack was actually a

bomb.

Mardin Amin claims he actually told the guard the small, black object

was a "pump" - as in a ####### pump.

Amin's attorney said her client was embarrassed to explain the object

in front of his mother, who was traveling with him, so he whispered.

The guard misunderstood, and thought he said "bomb," according to

defense attorney Eileen O'Neill-Burke.

"His mother is standing there so, under his breath, he says, 'It's a

pump. Put it away. Put it away,'" O'Neill-Burke told The Associated

Press on Thursday. The guard asked him again and he repeated that the

object was a pump, the attorney said.

O'Neill-Burke added that Amin, an Iraqi, has a thick accent and she

herself had trouble understanding him until he brought the pump to

her office and showed it to her. She said she recently learned that

Arabic speakers sometimes have trouble distinguishing the sounds "p"

and "b."

However, Judge Gerald Winiecki decided there was sufficient evidence

for the case to move forward after the female security guard

testified that she heard Amin "clearly" say the word bomb on Aug. 16

at O'Hare International Airport.

Amin, 29, of Skokie, is charged with felony disorderly conduct and

faces up to three years in prison if convicted. He was released on

$75,000 bond and is due back in court Sept. 13. O'Neill-Burke said he

will plead not guilty then.

Amin told the Chicago Sun-Times after the hearing that security

officials did not give him a chance to explain the misunderstanding,

that he would never use the word "bomb" while going through a

security checkpoint, and does not consider a ####### pump an unusual

object to own.

"It's normal," he said. "Half of America they use it."

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

"Half of America uses it ?????"

I don't think so

Not sure about the guy in the article.... but like many Arabs, my husband also mixes up the "b" and "p" sounds -- when he says he needs to stop at the "gas pump," it sounds like he's saying "gas bomb" -- so I can see how this could possibly happen.

[AngelK96 0]

My husband also gets his p's and b's mixed..even when he writes or types english. the bolice for the police

[Together4ever 1]

Mohammed sometimes struggles with this too. In his letter to the Consul regarding his intentions towards me he wrote "I feel like I have known her since I was porn." Ohhhhhh k. I wonder how times she reread that line.

The other thing we laugh over is his study is in hotel and tourism. Well, when an Egyptian says "tourism" it sounds an aweful lot like "terrorism". We have had some real hoots over that but he is always VERY CAREFUL to annunciate that one properly.

Mohammed if you read this... Honey I'm not making fun at you. You just tickle me. Remember when I butchered Arabic so bad instead of saying "I love you" I said "doorknob"?

[Anna and Ali 13]

Mohammed sometimes struggles with this too. In his letter to the Consul regarding his intentions towards me he wrote "I feel like I have known her since I was porn." Ohhhhhh k. I wonder how times she reread that line.

The other thing we laugh over is his study is in hotel and tourism. Well, when an Egyptian says "tourism" it sounds an aweful lot like "terrorism". We have had some real hoots over that but he is always VERY CAREFUL to annunciate that one properly.

Mohammed if you read this... Honey I'm not making fun at you. You just tickle me. Remember when I butchered Arabic so bad instead of saying "I love you" I said "doorknob"?

omg i started crying i was laughing so hard at work about his letter to the consul omg made my day. These guys are too cute!

[Batta 6]

Thanks for the laugh.. This just made my Day

[moroccogirlny 100]

Mohammed sometimes struggles with this too. In his letter to the Consul regarding his intentions towards me he wrote "I feel like I have known her since I was porn." Ohhhhhh k. I wonder how times she reread that line.

The other thing we laugh over is his study is in hotel and tourism. Well, when an Egyptian says "tourism" it sounds an aweful lot like "terrorism". We have had some real hoots over that but he is always VERY CAREFUL to annunciate that one properly.

Mohammed if you read this... Honey I'm not making fun at you. You just tickle me. Remember when I butchered Arabic so bad instead of saying "I love you" I said "doorknob"?

lol my father is Middle Eastern and still has an accent. One day we were driving to Manhattan(shortly after 9/11) and there were police check points by the tunnel where we were headed and my father went into the emergency lane and then got stopped by a cop and then was asked why he was driving in that lane and my fathers answer " sorry officer I'm a tourist here" which sounded like I'm a terrorist. I just about crapped in my pants! Luckily the cop was nice and let him go lol.