# Persia/Iran question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 20, 2009, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persia-iran-question/482120 "2009-01-20T09:08:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persia-iran-question/482120/41 "2009-01-20T20:21:28Z")
Come to think of it, someone should tell the Aryan Nation that their name might as well be “Iranian Nation”. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persia-iran-question/482120/42 "2009-01-20T20:24:14Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > And I hear those Aryans _really_ don’t like Jews. Heh, I know you jest, but oddly enough the Perisans I’ve known tend to like Jews a lot. I think it is because of shared cultural values - aside from the whole Zionism thing; and even on that, they are sorta ambivalent. ---
**Author:** ![rhythmonly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@rhythmonly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhythmonly)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persia-iran-question/482120/43 "2009-01-20T20:27:43Z")
I used to frequent a fast mart that was owned by an Iranian couple. I commented on the wife’s jewelery one day, and she informed me that she got it on a trip home to Persia. I asked her did she mean Iran. No, she was very definite about going to Persia. I got the feeling that she felt customers would be upset if they knew that she went to Iran. On a side note, I quit going to the store when I learned that her husband would cheat the customers when selling them lotto tickets. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persia-iran-question/482120/44 "2009-01-20T20:29:31Z")
Just adding to the anecdotes-- used to live in a part of Toronto with a large Persian population, and as far as I could make out, it was always “Persian”, never “Iranian” – why, I cannot say. ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persia-iran-question/482120/45 "2009-01-21T03:45:48Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > One example is a painter named Sabzi whose work can be found [here](http://www.chasengalleries.com/sabzi/index.html) (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. That’s not bad, but I have to say those paintings just can’t compare to some of the classic Persian illustrated manuscripts, like [the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp](http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/dbcourses/publicportfolio.cgi?view=1227#). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persia-iran-question/482120/46 "2009-01-21T03:50:22Z")
[Iranian comedian Omid Djalili on the difference between Persia and Iran](http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QNc5hzinZcU&feature=PlayList&p=F49FE67E97B027EE&playnext=1&index=3) “Persian cat, so sweet, not an Iranian cat, has a bomb under the bodywarmer!” ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persia-iran-question/482120/47 "2009-01-21T03:51:59Z")
They are beautiful indeed. Thank you for the link. I’ve seen work by several different Iranian/Persian contemporary artists and their style was pretty similar to that of Sabzi. Enough so that I’ve wondered if that’s a common contemporary style in Iran itself, or whether one of these artist developed the style and the others followed, creating a minor clique of artists with that unique style. You wouldn’t perhaps know, would you? ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persia-iran-question/482120/48 "2009-01-21T03:58:58Z")
Afraid not. I once took a seminar on Persian manuscripts, and that’s the only reason I knew about the Shah Tahmasp Shahnameh. Don’t know anything about contemporary Persian art. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persia-iran-question/482120/49 "2009-01-23T16:09:26Z")
Bump: For anyone who’s interested, Rick Steves, the Public TV travel guy, just did a special on Iran. [More info here](http://www.ricksteves.com/iran); for airtimes, [see here](http://www.ricksteves.com/iran/iran_airtimes.htm) check the schedule of your local PBS affiliate. I just watched it last night; pretty good show. Made my girlfriend a little homesick. ---
**Author:** ![SomeBodyUK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@SomeBodyUK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SomeBodyUK)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persia-iran-question/482120/50 "2009-01-28T06:44:15Z")
My sister-in-law’s brother’s wife is Iranian and she called herself Iranian. She’s a wanabee Indian though (her husband is Indian) Regarding Aryans, well north Indians are Aryans too! ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persia-iran-question/482120/51 "2009-01-28T06:50:35Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Ironically Perisa is what various western cultures called it. Its always been some derivation of Iran; in Iran. That’s what I was thinking. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persia-iran-question/482120/52 "2009-01-28T06:53:03Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > 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! That’s kind of funny, capitalizing off of Western Orientalism. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persia-iran-question/482120/53 "2009-01-28T07:27:14Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > [Iranian comedian Omid Djalili on the difference between Persia and Iran](http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QNc5hzinZcU&feature=PlayList&p=F49FE67E97B027EE&playnext=1&index=3) > > “Persian cat, so sweet, not an Iranian cat, has a bomb under the bodywarmer!” That guy’s hilarious! “An Englishman, and Irishman and a Scotsman walk into a bar. For you that’s a joke, for us that’s a hostage situation.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persia-iran-question/482120.md?page=2)