Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered government and
cultural bodies to use modified Persian words to replace foreign words
that have crept into the language, such as "pizzas" which will now be
known as "elastic loaves," state media reported Saturday.
This isn't the first such occassion that Iran has changed words commonly used. Remember the cartoon jihad earlier this year? Bakeries in Iran were ordered to change their advertisements for Danish pastries to "Roses of the Prophet Muhammad."
The presidential decree, issued earlier this week, orders all governmental agencies, newspapers and publications to use words deemed more appropriate by the official language watchdog, the Farhangestan Zaban e Farsi, or Persian Academy, the Irna official news agency reported.
The academy has introduced more than 2,000 words as alternatives for some of the foreign words that have become commonly used in Iran, mostly from Western languages. The government is less sensitive about Arabic words, because the Quran is written in Arabic.
Among other changes, a "chat" will become a "short talk" and a "cabin" will be renamed a "small room," according to official Web site of the academy.
This reminded us of a story from 2003, when the Culture Ministry of France announced a ban on the use of the word "email" in all government ministries, documents, publications or websites, to stem an incursion of English words into the French lexicon. The ministry's general commission on terminology and neology ruled: "evocative, with a very French sound, the word 'courriel' is broadly used in the press and competes advantageously with the borrowed 'mail' in English."
In France this attempt could best be descibed as "une failure miserable".
Tout les bloggeurs francais surfent le web ...
Posted by: Francis | Jul 29, 2006 at 12:58
Since ahmadinejad has decided to ban Western words in iran, I look forward to him banning Western technology as well - electricity (US), computers (US), modern medicine (US & Europe), nuclear science (US), television (US), radio (US), the telephone (US), airplanes (US), automobiles (US), tanks (US & Europe), artillery (Europe), the Internet (US), Western dress (which he still wears), eyeglasses (US - nasrallah seems to be fond of them), indoor plumbing (Ancient Rome), the printing press (Europe), calculus (Europe), Newtonian physics (Europe), chemistry (Europe), etc. I don't see 'iran' in that list... so what will they be left with?? Camels, sand, and terrorism?? Perhaps their lunatic leader has hit on a solution to the trouble the Middle East keeps exporting to the rest of the world - take away their Western technology and education, and they will reduced to their natural, barbaric state, completely impotent to export or implement their terrorism and backwords, hateful ideology that has no place in Western society.
Posted by: Muslim Nutcase | Jul 29, 2006 at 15:32
Quite similar to the silliness in the US that happened a few years ago: "french fries" became "freedom fries", etc.:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Fries
Posted by: Joe Example | Jul 29, 2006 at 17:41
I think the whole world seems to have a problem when it comes to dealing with a creative society. envy comes to mind.
Posted by: greg | Jul 29, 2006 at 18:31