Saturday school
Lessons in Persian
July 21, 2004
iranian.com
soopoor (n.) Persian word for dustman. Not Turkic in origin as
is commonly perceived, it came into existence as a result of British
occupation in the first half of the 20th century. Astonished by
the impoverished state of garbage collectors outside his colonial
residence in Abadan, a General Bartholomew Toff-Knob exclaimed: “By
Jove the natives look so poor.” Thus they became known as
the “so-poors”, hence soopoor.
Most Iranians of course
refer to them as ashghaleehah (trashies). As in: “Bodo
ashghaleehah oomadan! (Hurry the ‘trashies’ are here)”. This
is usually heard at 6.30am and succeeded by “Goftam deeshab
bezar, ahmagh (I told you to put them out last night, imbecile)”.
Putting the rubbish out at the crack of dawn is a rite of passage
for Iranian boys, just as good grades are for girls. Girls are
never expected to chase the dustcart down the road with a bag in
each hand. Boys, however, might run all the way to the depot.
Roftegar,
one who sweeps -- sweeper -- is the proper word for what
is the rather derogatory ashghalee. Debate rages among academics
as to whether the word sweeper itself comes from soopoor or the
other way around.
besharaf (adj.) used to describe General Pervez Musharraf of
Pakistan -- once a staunch ally of the Taleban, he switched sides
as soon
as he
realised the US Cavalry was coming to bomb his neighbours in 2001.
It was like the man who buys drugs from the rockers next-door on
the day they are busted saying: “And book’em for a
noise offence, they play guitar too loud.”
At around the time of the war the Taleban’s envoy to Pakistan
Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef was pictured in the International
Herald Tribune at a press conference mid-chuckle. And what did he have
to laugh about? Australia, he had just learned, was also to send
troops to the region. “America”, he joked, “is
enough for Afghanistan!”
Sharaf means honour. Besharaf means
without-honour. It rhymes with Musharraf which rhymes with mozakhraf (crap).
mozakhraf (adj.) a term sometimes used to describe the “new” Iranian
cinema. It is of course unfair to write off the diverse efforts
of so many talents with a word as harsh as shit or bollocks, but
the fact is that along with organic food, Iranian cinema was one
of the last cons of the 20th century.
Where Hollywood fare was
tainted by unnatural additives, Iranian films were pure and earthy,
reminding urban elites in the West of how simple life can be. Majid
Majidi’s Oscar-nominated Color of God was
the high-point of this genre: a virtual self-parody with a blind
child lead who
keeps touching everything and its New Age redemption-through-faith
message -- kaleh-pacheh* for the soul if you like. More
next week...
(*Bacon and eggs.)
Have any words to dissect? Send them to our
resident etymologist.
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