Oum Koulsoum and I go all the way to my youth (“Oum Koulsoum,” January 3, 1987). Whenever I hear her amazing voice, I get goosebumps. And I was overjoyed to come across one of her songs on the World Wide Web earlier today. Even though the spelling of her name was rather different than the one I knew, there was no doubt whose it was. A photograph of her holding a microphone was all it took, but the sound of her voice sealed it in a jiffy. In this case, the spelling was Om Kalsoum, though. I have been used to a variety of spellings of the Egyptian singer’s name, but this one was new to me. Thus I searched the web for all the spellings I could find. And the spread is truly mindboggling. In just a few minutes, I found six more spellings: Omme Kolsoum, Oum Kalthoum, Om Kolthoum, Oum Kaltsoum, Om Kolthom, and Umm Kulthum. The last spelling comes from a Wikipedia page dedicated to the singer, too. There must be a few more, but I gave up the search soon enough. For me, the correct spelling will forever remain the one that goes back to my youth.