Afendi-est phones in Iraq

Surely you read the New York Times every day, right? Well, if you don’t, there is one story today that I recommend, right there on the front page. Written by Damien Cave, it’s about cell phone culture in Iraq. The story explains that the “cool kids” all want an an Apache phone (named after the military helicopter) or a Humvee phone, or an Afendi (which the story says means “dapper,” in Turkish).

Even more telling are the text messages and images that Iraqis share over their phones. … One of the most popular messages making the rounds appears onscreen with the image of a skeleton. “Your call cannot be completed,” it says, “because the subscriber has been bombed or kidnapped.”