I met a girl the other day who spoke with a accent I could not place, when I asked where she came from she said came from Persia, she didn’t say she was Iran or that she was Persian but she called her country Persia….
Does this signify anything? Meaning she has issues with Iranian government, or is it the same a saying you’re from Holland when the country is called Netherlands
She was in her twenties,….
Oh! and cute…very cute
I’m guessing she doesn’t like the current government. Persia is the old name for Iran, associated with the country before the extreme Islamic faction came to power. There’s someone living here who is pointedly Persian for that reason.
I know people from the Netherlands that say they are from Holland. There reasoning is it’s easier. They know it’s wrong, but they get tired of explaining it.
Also Iran has a lot of negative associated with it. Persia is exotic and alluring.
As was the girl
I saw an Arab comic on TV talk about this. His take was basically that Iranians feel that they are better than Arabs. Arabs = nomads who found oil. Iranians = decendants of the great Persian Empire. The mixed audience found it funny in a “It’s funny cause its true” kinda way. Don’t remember the comic and I can’t attest to the truth.
Ironically Perisa is what various western cultures called it. Its always been some derivation of Iran; in Iran.
I don’t know how factual this is but I recall reading, sometime after the Iranian hostage episode in the late seventies, that people from Iran began referring to themselves as Persian to sidestep animus attached to Iran because of the Khomeni government and the hostage crisis, though it is true that ‘Persia’ sounds exotic and romantic and beautiful, so I’m sure there’s some of that as well. I know I’ve seen some beautiful artwork online by artists referring to themselves as Persian.
FWIW:
Since ancient times, Iranian peoples have used the term Aryan as an ethnic designation to describe their lineage and their language, and this tradition has continued into the present day amongst modern Iranians [9]. In fact, the name Iran is a cognate of Aryan and means “Abode of the Aryans.” [10]
Seconding what Loach said about Iranians distancing themselves from Arabs.
Except that the language is “Farsi”, so obviously the F/P-R-S root (in Hebrew, for instance, the country was known as “Paras”) must come from somewhere.
One example is a painter named Sabzi whose work can be found here (scroll down for the coolest stuff). Unfortunately these photos don’t do them justice. The paintings themselves, or prints even which is what I’ve seen of them, are so much more vivid and vibrant, but clicking on these will bring up an expanded view that shows them better. I’d love to learn how to paint in this style but have been able to figure it out.
Lovely…maybe penny arcade were influenced by him when they did the Prince of persia storybook
I think this is a correct link…but I can’t get it to work at my work pc
It might be simply pride. Iranians are extremely proud of their Persian heritage, and won’t miss a chance of mentioning it. Calling themselves Persians, not unusual in my limited experience, give them an air they wouldn’t get by mentioning they’re Iranians, a name associated with the concept of “backward country ruled by mullahs”. Persians, by contrast, are the heirs of an old and powerful empire, of a millennia-old brilliant culture with the added bonus of not being related in any way, shape or form with despicable, camel-riding, Arabs. They’re fucking Aryans, don’t you dare forget that!
It works for me, and yeah, I can definitely see elements of the same technique.
Another question: is it typical for Iranians to sound as if they are English? There’s a fellow student here from the suburbs of Tehran. When I first heard him speak, he sounded as if he was from London, or the south of England, and he remarked that most people thought that too. But listening to him carefully, it’s obvious that he has an accent that sounds superficially English but really isn’t (it’s really strange).
The guy hasn’t been in the country for long, and is living in Edinburgh now, so there’s no reason for him to sound as if he’s from the south. His English also isn’t that good, but even after just being introduced to a new word, he sounds English. Is this an Iranian accent?
I thought at first the girl in my OP had a german accent, in Dutch that is
Can’t talk for Iran, but generally in the Mid East and S Asia, when you are taught English, you are supposed to speak it “clearly, with no accent”. What that actually means, I have no idea. I supposed that could be the reason; it sounds English. Or maybe he picked it up via TV.
You have been around too many Arabs! The Paras/ Parthia/ Persia/Farsi designation comes from the old province of Parsa now known as Fars. The ancient Greeks called them Persians, because then ruling dynasty came from Parsa province. The name for the country or the empire has always been some variation on “Iran”.
And I say too many Arabs, becuase as you will be aware Arabic has no “p” sound, and hence “Fars” rather than “Pars”. I take it Hebrew still has the “p” sound.
Anecdotally, I grew up with a kid who (though born in the US) was Iranian. He told people he was Persian, and privately asked me (for exactly the reasons you cite) not to say to people he was Iranian, but was Persian. This would have been the late 70s/early 80s.
Ah, so it really is a “Holland/Netherlands” thing.
For the record, “Farsi” is the language’s name in *English *; in Hebrew it’s “Parsit.”
Its actually Farsi in pretty much every Mid East languauge. And Hebrew still has a “p”?