The number of times I have been called an Afghani is countless. Afghani is the currency of Afghanistan & its nationals are called AFGHAN. It is like calling an American a dollar or a British a pound. However I can see how it may happen, as people from
The next time you see an American, ask him if he is known as a dollar and gage his reaction! I’m sure he will not be too pleased!
Being called Afghani is insulting as the value of Afghani is so low. Therefore insinuating that Afghans are not worth much. So let’s try and remember the term is Afghan not Afghani.
3 comments:
I have had this argument with hundreds of people,,,hundreds of times,,,
It all comes down to lack good understanding of language.
You are right, Afghani is the currency in Afghanistan and the people are Afghan.
In English, Afghan is the adjective and describes the people of Afghanistan. Anyone with a sensible command of English language would know this.
The difference between Iraqi and Afghan is that, Iraq is a place and so the people of Iraq are Iraqi, however, Afghan is a race (Not a place) therefore, Afghan is Afghan.
The same applies to Tajik, Uzbek, Turks etc, they are not Tajiki, Uzbeki or Turki, simply the adjective itself.
The above holds true in English and Dari and Farsi etc.
If we only consider Dari/Farsi, then it is slightly more complicated, the word Afghan is Afghan, however, what belongs to Afghans or comes from them, can be described as Afghani (strictly speaking in Dari or Farsi. For example, Naan e Afghani, Mooseqi Afghani, Kaalaae Afghani etc. But Afghan is Afghan in every language.
That is actually incorrect as in Arabic, Afghans are commonly known as Afghani. I have reason to believe that this is not due to the Arabic folks' lack of knowledge of Afghanistan but in fact the correct term in Arabic. I'm not 100% certain, though, so will get back to you on that :)
it is a very good point that afghani is the currency
and afghans should be called afghans NOT afghani
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