Ummm... Fruit Juice

Now the Arabic world can join us in calling the French "cheese-eating surrender monekeys." They have their own version of my favorite TV show...

I guess it had to happen. "The Simpsons" is now broadcast to the Middle East as "Al Shamshoon." Something must be lost in the translation. The cartoon has been repackaged with Homer Simpson now identified as "Omar Shamshoon," patriarch of the Shamshoon clan, including his wife "Mona," son "Badr," and genius daughter "Beesa."

Homer now drinks 'Duff" fruit juice, and he eats kahk, a traditional Arab cookie, rather than donuts. Hot dogs are out, and Egyptian sausages are in.

Interestingly, the Simpsons' Christian neighbor Ned Flanders has been secularized, with no references to his Christianity in the Arabic version. Mr. Burns, on the other hand, remains a hard-hearted boss, renamed "Mahrooney Bey." Badr still tells people who annoy him to eat his shorts.

If this comes out on DVD, I have to get it, if only to know how they explain Bumblebee Man and Sideshow Mel.