A night on the old margaritas

I bet Sapa is called Sap by his buddies!

You can imagine the scene. The Turkmenbashi has sneaked off from one of his palaces in Ashgabat for the night and is swigging down the old margaritas in a discrete but trendy nightclub in downtown Atamyrat. Around the table are a few trusted friends interspersed with an equal number of trusted body guards. There's a lot of trust around clearly.

Anyway, one of the buddies (maybe the minister for public works - i.e. palaces and pictures of Sapa) bursts out with:

"Whadya say Sap, what can we do next to fool the Americans?"

Which goes down well since Sapa's margarita tab at the bar is heading for double figures.

"I know", pronounces the Turkmenbashi, "I'll rename the days of the week! That'll confuse the CIA for sure if they ever get here!"

And being a man of his word (which is the only word that counts), here they are:

Monday - the main day (Bash Gyun)

Tuesday - the young day (Yash Gyun)

Wednesday - the favourable day (Khosh Gyun)

Thursday - the just day (Sogap Gyun)

Friday - the same day (Anna Gyun)

Saturday - the spirit's day (Rukh Gyun)

Sunday - the rest day (Dynch Gyun)

(In order to fool the Americanskis even more, the name for Friday was left the same. History will tell who was fooled more - your average Turkmen on the street or the CIA analysts. Aardvark reckons the smart money is on the men from Langley.)

By the way, it turns out that Sapa was not amused about being called Sap when the soothing effects of the margaritas wore off and he discovered he'd left his Prozac behind in Ashgabat. So next time at the club, 2 body guards had to sit together. (It was not on the evening of Khosh Gyun when they were out.)

So if you get to meet him (unless it's on Khosh Gyun), or even meet one of his stunt doubles/clones, I'd stick to "Oh mighty Turkmenbashi" when you greet him.

Let's not rename the places on the map after a night on the old margaritas!