Shanta now addressed Jeebleh: "Did you know that in everyday Somali the term 'amerikaan' means 'weird'? Why do you think that is so?" ('American' means 'weird'.) .... Jeebleh said. "Maybe it came about as a result of the Hollywood movies we've seen?" "I think it's in the nature of the strong and the weak to define each other in ways that ake sense only to one of the, not necessarily to both," siad Shanta. "To the Somali, the Amerikaan is weird, to the American GI, the Somali is an ingrate and a skinny.