I have to report an accidental play on words in Arabic that I probably should have known ages ago, but just learned of. The Lebanese civil war from 1975-1990 was ended in the Saudi town of Ta’if in meetings which produced what came to be known as the Ta’if Accords. Now, anyone who knows recent Lebanese history also knows that its system of government played a huge role in contributing to the civil war (not to mention the gridlock over finding a successor to the now former president Emile Lahoud). Its system of government mandates representation for what are known as Lebanon’s three main confessions (or sects) – the Maronite Christians, the Sunnis, and the Shi’ites. For my PhD dissertation, I want to write about the effects of confessionalism in Lebanese political evolution. So, it would probably help to know what the word confessionalism is in Arabic. Would you believe it’s “ta’ifiya” (which if you don’t know Arabic grammar is like turning ta’if into an adjective or, in this case, an –ism)?

And thus it makes sense that the Lebanese civil war was ended in an otherwise obscure Saudi town and not somewhere more flashy. Viva los play on words!