Just Kill Me Now

Reuters reports:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A name chosen to represent the merger of two major U.S. brokerage watchdogs will be changed because the acronym may be considered offensive due to its similarity to an Arabic term.

The Securities Industry Regulatory Authority, or SIRA, was the name that had been announced to represent the combination of NASD and NYSE Regulation.

SIRA, which will be regulator for all securities brokers and dealers doing business with the public in the United States, is now considering the name Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA.

When NASD chairman Mary Schapiro announced the name SIRA at a luncheon in June, she was not aware that it "could create confusion or be considered offensive because of its similarity to an Arabic term used to refer to the traditional biographies of Muhammad."

"Because of this feedback, we determined that it was appropriate to select the alternative name of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, for our new organization," she wrote in a note to NASD employees.

Our friends at Dhimmi Watch opine:

A sira, you see, is a biography of Muhammad. Like this one, although of course the term more properly refers to the ancient traditional biographies of the man that were written by pious Muslims. And so the word can't be used for something as unholy as a financial organization. That would offend the perpetually offended, you see.

[snip]

Create confusion? Really? Devout believers crowding the halls of the New York Stock Exchange, looking for classes on the life of the Prophet? Lawyers in Armani suits storming into mosques and arguing positions for or against the actions of this or that broker?

But there's trouble ahead:

The Religion of Perpetual Outrage has a lot of work ahead of it. After all, the acronym finder shows lots of other groups named SIRA: the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association, the Southern Indiana Realtors Association, the Solar Imaging Radio Array, the Shipping Industry Reform Authority, the Southeast Idaho Recreation Alliance, Southern Indiana Radiological Associates, the Stein Institute for Research on Aging, the Section 115 Reform Act, and, of course, Selective Imidazoline Receptor Agonists. And don't even get me started about the Memphis Educational Computer Connectivity Alliance or the Supportive Housing Initiative Act or the Southeastern Universities Research Association or the Academic Leadership Institute or the International Kirlian Research Association.

Do you suppose The Religion of Chronic Indignation knows about the International Society for Laser Application In Medicine?