I am told by an Afghan member of our faculty that the correct term, as far as it goes, is 'Afghan', not 'Afghani'. 'Afghani' is the name of the currency. At the same time, she informs me that there are 24 distinct tribal groups, and that the name 'Afghan' is the name of a former ruling tribe which has been generalized to the country as a whole (to the chagrin of some non-Afghan tribespeople). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johanna Rubba Associate Professor, Linguistics English Department, California Polytechnic State University One Grand Avenue • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 Tel. (805)-756-2184 • Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone. 756-2596 • E-mail: [log in to unmask] • Home page: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/