Hate to nit pick but isn't it Gaddafi, or Qaddafi?
Edit: So it is, although the correct spelling is already taken.
Edit: So it is, although the correct spelling is already taken.
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5365283/regular-expressio...
“Spell it any way you like, ” he said (in pretty fair English, by the way — something else that seems to have strategically disappeared over the years). “All that matters is spelling it correctly in Arabic.”
This whole thing is hilarious, but probably useless
http://www.ecogito.net/anil/2011/02/how-do-you-spell-gaddafi...
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/09/how-many-dif...
Anyway it's a fun idea and I'm just nit picking.
If I had to say, I guess correct would be the closest phonetic spelling to the Arabic, and as I understand that would be Gaddafi (in Libya) or Qaddafi (more generally). Or you could use what he has used himself in the past, which I have just discovered is: Gadhafi [0].
So without even nailing your colours to the mast over the correct definition of 'correct' in this context perhaps you might agree that Gadaffi is probably incorrect for any sensible definition of 'correct' in this context.
Or perhaps we could all agree to just call him 'that evil motherfucker from Libya'.
[0] http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/513/how-are-you-sup...
Anything else is just a translation and it all means the same, despite being different.
anything else is a _transliteration_