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Obama branded a ‘smart aleck’ by Britain’s Secret Service

Scotland Yard gives President an insulting codename

CATHY HAYES,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Wednesday, May 25, 2011, 2:48 PM

Updated Wednesday, May 25, 2011, 3:33 PM

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Queen Elizabeth II and President Barack Obama prior to a dinner hosted by the queen, Tuesday, May 24, 2011, at Buckingham Palace in London

Photo by AP

London’s Scotland Yard, police HQ, gave President Barack Obama the codename ‘chalque’, which means ‘smart alec’ in Punjabi.

The story was broken in the Daily Mail before Obama's arrival in Britain. A spokesperson from Scotland Yard maintained that the codename was chosen at random by a computer program.

However this was put into question when a Sikh commuinity newspaper reported that this word ‘chalque’ was used used to ‘denigrate’ someone. This embarassing story was then picked up by Yahoo News and The Drudge Report.

Asra Q. Nomani a journalist with The Daily Beast said that she found the word insulting and thought it described someone “who is a notch below diabolical”. She wanted to double check and consulted her mother who confirmed it is insulting and checked in the the dictionary where its definition reads: “adj. skilful; knowing; crafty; sly.”

The journalist concludes after some debate that Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s recent deceipt and Berne Madoff, who swindled millions out of foundations could both be reffered to as a chalque.

Scotland Yard however insist that it was not the President directly who was being referred to as a ‘chalque’ but “operational name for the state visit”. They told the CBS News that there was not a lot of choice that went into the name.

It was chosesn “in sequential order from a randomly selected list."

So it seems that the computer came up with this mildly insulting name for the dignitaries visit rather than the British police.

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Obama receives warm welcome from the Royals at Buckingham Palace

Tourism chiefs look to cash in on Obama and Queen visit

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9 Comments

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Springfield9 | May 26, 2011, 05:59 PM EDT

When I detect a demeaning remark, aimed at me in Punjabi, I lower my glass (slowly) and with steel fire in my eyes utter - "What?"

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PhlutiePhan | May 26, 2011, 12:10 PM EDT

"Skillful, knowing, crafty, sly". How is this demeaning? I would use this same description for Bill Clinton and for that matter Ronald Reagan. The media would say that this was a "step up" from describing G.W. Bush.

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mamaginnty | May 26, 2011, 11:22 AM EDT

This story has just given GoergieD another excuse to repeat himself about ( Pakis ).

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seamusinPA | May 26, 2011, 06:43 AM EDT

The English don't change; they adjust.

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GeorgeDillon | May 25, 2011, 09:25 PM EDT

Soon the "Irish" police will be speaking Urdu and Punjabi too. Check out how many Pakis have installed themselves in Ireland. Why are they being given residency, when the young Irish are emigrating from their ancestral homeland? The Irish government's Open Door immigration (non-)policy is treacherous madness.

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thurley | May 25, 2011, 09:12 PM EDT

I would have used dumb and dumber if his VP was with him

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Kinlough | May 25, 2011, 06:04 PM EDT

A non-story. What is the point of it? An attempt to denigrate the British police or secret service?

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bullocks | May 25, 2011, 05:22 PM EDT

If it was operation knobhead ,I could understand the complaint, but this is just a silly story.

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Aughavey | May 25, 2011, 04:18 PM EDT

a random selection of words input into a computer database more likely than not - do you really think they are going to sit and think up sophisticated words for operations? They are going to grab a few dictionaries and randomly select wordsfor input into a list, probably without even looking at the meaning of such words.

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