Gandhi...or Ghandi?

I misspelled Gandhi when posting a forum yesterday, and was corrected. His name is not Ghandi. Someone replied and told me his friends from India told him that ghandi means something funny. I usually spell it correctly, but this time I made a typo.

Well, as motivated (read: obsessed) I am with knowing seemingly random facts, I got busy. I googled (this is now a verb, see?) the word ghandi. Turns out I am not the only one having trouble spelling his name. Even Google brought up Mahatma Ghandi as a legitimate spelling. I had to try really hard to find the true meaning of it too.

I finally found out that ghandi means "one who takes it in the ass" in Hindi. This took forever and a day to find out! I also learned that the West constantly misspells his name, partly because of the way Hindi letters are translated. I happen to believe the other reason is because we are arrogant as a nation and rarely stop to consider that the placement of a letter could offend someone from India. Although it has been done so often and for so long, I tend to wonder if they just laugh at our faux pas. We have such a drastically different alphabet too. I love the way Hindi looks. I want to learn to write like this...Here is some right now, just to demonstrate the beauty of the language.

This is actually Sanscrit: महात्मा mahātmā — "Great Soul" .
Gandhi was also called Bapu (Gujarati: બાપુ bāpu—"Father").

Here are some quotes on nonviolence from Gandhi Ji...

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall — think of it, always."

"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?"

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

"There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for."

"Be the change you want to see in the world." (this is by far my favorite quote)

I love learning new things.