Iran bans foreign words
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has banned a string of foreign words and replaced them with Persian equivalents, it was reported today.
The presidential decree – which turns pizzas into “elastic loaves” – orders all governmental agencies, newspapers and publications to use words deigned more appropriate by the official language watchdog, the Persian Academy.
The academy has introduced more than 2,000 words as alternatives for some of the foreign words that have crept into the Farsi vocabulary.
Among other changes, “short talk” is the alternative to “chat” while a “cabin” will be renamed a “small room”.
