A while ago, a woman presenter on Press TV, walking on stage with a lot of eshveh, spoke of the ‘infamous Shahnameh’.
She had probably thought ‘infamous’ meant very famous, just as ‘invaluable’ means very valuable. Presumably, no one else at the English-language station knew the meaning of the word either.
Now the English-language opposition website, Lenziran, based in the West, is displaying a short video broadcast on Iranian TV with the title, ‘The notorious poet Ferdowsi in a satire animation about Iranian TV’.
There is no hint of irony anywhere in the introduction. So Lenziran too must have thought that ‘notorious’ means, perhaps, ‘very notable’, with a positive connotation.
The clip is very well-made, funny, and sad. I am personally grateful to Lenziran for running it: http://www.lenziran.com/2011/08/18/the-notorious-poet-ferdowsi-in-a-satire-animation-about-iranian-tv/
