Letters
June 28 - July 2, 1999 / Tir 7-11, 1378
Today
* Language
- Word roots
* Iranian-American:
- Kudos!
Previous
* Bayzaie:
- Bayzaie deserves better
* Politics:
- Good vs. Evil
* Language
- Funny!
- Common root
* Delkash:
- Iranian Golden Throat
* Lewinski:
- No Monica
* Jews:
- Sincerest apologies
- Az cheh guri... ?
email us
Friday,
July 2, 1999
* Word roots
About the "Khiyaar
Chambar" article, I don't know if the authors of the piece were
serious or not, because some of the word roots were pretty ridiculuous.
If they were serious in thinking that all those words have Persian roots,
then I think I have to make some points.
Some of the words mentioned have Persian roots, but a great many are
not Persian, but Indo-Iranian. For instance Chemistry actually comes
from Al-chemy which comes from "Al Kimiyaa." Daughter is not
actually dokhtar nor father is pedar and so on. They all come from a similar
Indo-European root. So, daughter is not a derivative of dokhtar, rather
they both are a derivative of dogtir ... FULL
TEXT
Khodadad Rezakhani
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* Kudos!
Ms. Jalalipour makes a very astute observation ["After
all, I am Iranian"]. Kudos to her parents for providing the environment
to raise such a daughter. Kudos to Shima for being such a decent human
being. Good luck to Shima, and others like her, in all her future endeavors.
A. Shemirani
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Thursday
July 1, 1999
* Sincerest apologies
A recent
letter that I had sent to The Iranian Times in which
I had wrongly made derogatory remarks about Iranians elicited quite a few
furious responses both sent to me personally and posted to The Iranian
Times letters section.
I feel deeply sorry that I had caused distress for so many individuals
whom, from what I can tell -- from the letters I received -- did not deserve
those remarks.
My comments about Iranians in general were definitely uncalled for.
I beg of all whom I may have offended to please accept my sincerest apologies.
Sholom Din
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* Bayzaie deserves better
It was so great to have an article about Bahram Bayzaie in The Iranian
["The
drifter"]. Iranian modern art owes a lot to this writer, stage
theater director and filmmaker.
However I don't have the same feeling about the article. The article
seems to be more about the writer's emotional responses to Bayzaie's movies
and his geographic locations while watching the movies than about Bayzaie.
One of the characteristics of Bayzaie's films is the lack of exaggerated
emotional expressions and sentimentalism even when he is dealing with subjects
such as love and death. It is very reasonable to consider the same fundamentals
when writing about Bayzaie.
Also I wish there were more explanations to back up the writer's interpretations.
As an example I can't understand what " Shaayad Vaghti Deegar"
has to do with life and death, which is supposed to be the main theme for
the other movie "Mosaaferaan". Bayzaie deserves more than that.
Pedraam Parsian
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Wednesday
June 30, 1999
* Funny!
Funny, funny ["Khiyaar
Chambar"]! I loved it, especially the psychology behind the repartee.
Ethymologically! I don't know -- has the daughter heard of the Indo-European
theory of languages? Even better, coincidence? I love your style of writing
and your humor.
Reza Ordoubadian
Professor of English
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* Good vs. Evil
Understandably, we cannot expect Mr. Khatami to talk the talk and walk
the walk for us. We are going to have to find a way to emphasize personal
responsibility for all our people to contribute to a better tomorrow for
our beloved country. We must take a stand and voice our opinion as loudly
as we can, chanting for a free society. Only then, the Good shall triumph
over Evil and the serenity of freedom and liberty will cover us ... FULL TEXT
Sia M.
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Tuesday
June 29, 1999
* Common root
I enjoyed the great humor and true points of view in the article "Khiyaar
Chambar".
Just to help the writer find the rest of the 100 words, here are some
other examples like "bad" for 'bad", "no" for
"new", "nah" for "no" and "behtar"
for "better" and what about "abroo" for "eyebrow"?
However, the reality is, most of these similarities are due to a common
root rather than words being adopted from this to that language. A good
example is the verb "ast" (or hast) in Farsi which is "ist"
in German, "est" in French, "es" in Spanish and "is"
in English.
Indeed from linguistic point of view, there are seven or eight main
branches of Indo-European languages where Persian is one of the main branches
and English is a sub-branch of German.
Arman Sepehri
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* Az cheh guri... ?
Regarding your article "I
must be a Jew" ... What a bunch of nonsense! az cheh guri did
you guys crawl out of? The title of your article should have been "I
MUST BE AN IDIOT".
B. Mortazavi
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Monday
June 28, 1999
* Iranian Golden Throat
The Sunday dinner (khoreshe-e Bodemjoon) tasted doubly nice with the
divine voice of the Iranian GOLDEN THROAT, the one and only, DELKASH.
Thank you for a lovely reportage.
What has amazed me over the years is that Delkash was the FIRST singer
to perform a piece in KHARABATI amongst all the singers male or female
- she sang the famous "Sagash raa" [sag as in DOG!]. But, nobody
has ever dared to either mention it or reproduce it. "Sagash raa"
is definitely a milestone in the entirety of Iranian music - for those
who understand of course!
I do second to the fact that there are too many "LAGOORIs"
around at the moment singing lots of "Naneh Man Gharibam" who
are cashing in on the recent events. But you are forgetting that some of
us left Home well before any revolutions; the majority of whom still inhale
and exhale the good old Persian culture and try to keep it alive by making
our children appreciate Delkash, Elaheh, and Marzieh etc despite the fact
they don't understand a word of Iranian literature or culture.
I give any thing to hear a piece of KHARABATI by Delkash, Iraj, or the
chap who used to play Sarcar Ostovar in SAMAD sitcoms. Are you up to this
challenge?
It would be nice to see a track from Davood Maghami, Ali Nazari and
other kucheh baazaari singers. Did you know that they (apparently) had
more followers than Mahasty an so on? However, I know that it was socio-politically
correct to deny their existence - [what a bunch of hypocrite WE used to
be!!!] by pretending that we liked FARHAD, but clapped with SUSAN!
Rise to the challenge an send me "Sagash raa" and I will be
indebted to you for the rest of my life - ie the true meaning of ''Mokhles",
"Chaaker" or more upmarket "Eraadatmand"
Saeid Saba
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* No Monica
I enjoyed your site very much, which is why I urge you to remove Monika
Lewinski's picture ["Monica
& Bill"]. A site like yours should not be spoiled by the picture
of a famous American slut. Her picture is hanging in the Oval Office. That
is enough.
Mehran
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