Barack Obama, Speaking Arabic, Media Insanity, Etc.

Let's get it out of the way: Barack Obama said a word in Arabic to the Saudi King! How many of these Arabic "words" does he secretly know? What we need is more Ed Henry-type reporter antiheroes to pin this down, before "Judgment Day."

The supposed "only" Muslim word he said today was "Shukran," which may or may not translate to the Christian term "thank you." We are only aware of this secret translation intelligence -- the Internet and Google do not speak Arabic, you bet Jesus they don't -- thanks to the deep undercover journalistic sleuthery of the USA TODAY blogThe Oval,which has a localsource.

Update: 10:17 a.m. ET: "Shukran" means "thank you" in Arabic, Mont Mensoor, a teacher of the language at Washington, D.C.'s Berlitz Center, tells the Oval.

Okay okay we get it, USA TODAY, you are not terrorists, you don't know the terrorists' mouth-sounds, you've got nothing to do with the terrorists, we won't blame you for terrorism. You do not have to call an important language scholar for the translation of one basic Arabic pleasantry; it's cool, you will not be sent to Gitmo.

 Obama tries out his Arabic [USA TODAY]