According to the Atlantic
Monthly, which political organization's name means "conquest" in
Arabic when read in one direction and "death" when read in the
other?
Etymology, Etymology, and more Etymology
as well as grammar, usage, euphemism, slang, jargon, semantics (meaning), linguistics, neologism, idiom, word origin, syntax, dialect, lexicon (vocabulary), diction, pidgin, synonym, antonym, homonym, cant, argot, lingo, and redundancy.

The critically-acclaimed board game
MooT
consists of tough questions about the nuances of the English language.
Answer:
Fatah
According to David Samuels in the Atlantic
Monthly, "the title that came first on his [Arafat's] personal
stationery was head of Fatah, which means "conquest" - a
backward acronym for Harakat al-Tahrir al-Falistiniya, the
Palestinian Liberation Movement.
Spelled forward the
acronym yields Hataf, which means "death."
Source: In a Ruined Country - How Yasir Arafat destroyed
Palestine by David Samuels (Atlantic Monthly, September
2005)
Please note that these are draft questions for the board game MooT.
If you spot an error or disagree with anything I've said here,
please let me know and I'll fix it.
(the Mootguy)
Feedback
What about the name of one of our,
(in the Netherlands and about), banking institutions i.e. RABO
Bank. Not spelled backward but straight, the acronym means robber in
Chechoslowakian.
And Leica a renown
camera brand name, in reverse it reads aciel, which means heaven in French.
Another one: Our Dutch privatised Postal system will change its name from
PTT/TPG to TNT, ominous isn't it?
x-infangthief-@-myway.com
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Please don't pass this on to any Danish
newspapers, OK? And by the bye, did you realize that "Allah,"
read backwards, is "Hallah," a traditional Jewish bread eaten
on the sabbath? Mere coincidence -- or is there really a solid basis for mutual
understanding?
x-jacko-@-lycos.com
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