i noticed throughout the episode that the characters murdered are referred to throughout as 'Persians' I presume these immigrants are from Iran following the Ayatollah's rise to power.This country has not been known as Persia since 1935 and here in the UK we refer to it's citizens as Iranians.Is Persian used more commonly in the US?
shareMultiple ethnicities dwell in Iran, one of them being Persians. So, they may have been focusing on which particular people formed their ancestry.
In addition, many people react angrily to anyone who identifies themselves as "Iranian," due to the various incidents of the last thirty or so years. Consequently, I am sure that some Iranians use the term "Persian" to deflect this anger, and I imagine that it tends to work, since many of those who display mindless anger toward anyone from Iran are too ignorant to know that Persians come from Iran.
That's a very informative reply, thank you!
shareYou're welcome.
shareunsure if you are still monitoring your question, but i concur with Dr Z. i know of several people who say they are from persia, knowing that ignorant americans don't know what that means. good for them, i say.
shareI recently asked a coworker of mine from Iran whom I never recalled saying "Persian". He said that Persian is an ethnicity (one of many in the country) and Iranian is a nationality, and that most people today identify as Iranian (his wife is Azeri). And that they themselves had been calling the country Iran for centuries while we continued to call it Persia, until Shad Pahlavi I officially requested everyone else to call them Iran back in the 1930's or so.
shareI have worked with and for several Persian people and in my area. They have a solid and cohesive culture. I have help with the catering and setting up of some persian parties and holidays. Even in my small city their are a good deal of people that think of themselves as Persian before anything else. Also the show mentioned Farsi which is the language of the Persian people.
share"Persia" and "Persian" come from the name the Greeks gave the Iranians. "Iranian" is the word they have always used for themselves; it's related to "Aryan", the tribe of people who conquered India and settled much of Europe.
shareNot quite correct. "Persia" comes from "Pars" or "Fars"--the region from which Cyrus the Great came, the people of which were his original subjects before he came to control the entire land. The language "Farsi" obviously owes its name to this group of people.
shareI wasn't quite wrong either, now was I?
shareWell, "not quite correct" does imply not completely wrong. The point is, the Greeks did not pull the name "Persia" out of a hat. They got it from the name of an influential sub-group, one of whom ruled the country at what was arguably its height.
The fact that "Farsi" is still the name of the language indicates that "Persia" is not entirely a stretch as the name of the people and country. And, according to what I've read on the internet, many people from Iran--especially those who have emigrated, prefer "Persian" to "Iranian." So, if people of that country are divided over which is the preferred term, and if the word "Persian" comes from the name of one of the historically important peoples in Iran, then it's overstating the case to make out that "Persian" is a foreign imposition with no legitimacy.
"It's overstating the case to make out that "Persian" is a foreign imposition with no legitimacy. "
Sort of like the word "Greek" comes from the name of a small Hellenic (sic?) tribe in Italy that came to the attention of the Romans. They then applied the word to all similar people they encountered afterward.
Or like the word "Yankee" came to be appplied to all Amerricans even if it strictly applies only to a small ethnic/cultural group in the US.
Exactly.
shareI'm often thrown slightly when British or Australian friends refer to me as a "Yank". I think most people from the USA think of themselves as "Americans", but obviously we are not from all of the Americas. When someone says "Yankee" I normally think of either someone from New England or the baseball team.
shareFunny comment about the term "Yank" and whenever non Americans have
called me by the term I just smile and say, "no, I am not a yank
because I grew up in California!" The term throughout American
history has come to designate anybody like you've posted from
New York, New England or some other upper northeastern state
of the USA. I live in Arizona and residents of the southwest like
me certainly do not consider ourselves Yanks!
Lorenzo Sunny Arizona
Call me a sailor or a swabby just don't call me a squid!
Started watching Life again on Netflix and reading old posts. When many people think 'Iranian' they about the problems in that part of the world, as DrZ says. When they think 'Persian', they think of really nice rugs.
shareThat episode was the worst. The scene where they are playing a video game to unlock a hidden file was some of the most poorly written tv I've ever seen. Stoped watching the series after that.
shareThat episode was my least favorite. Very slow moving. As far as Persian vs. Iranian, my husband had an Iranian roommate in college, through no choice of his, and this man was a horrible roommate. He was smelly, rude, and made sure to abuse his powers as a foreign student. Thank goodness he moved to a different dorm after one semester. I have known Persian people, and they are not like Iranians at all!
share> He was smelly, rude, and made sure to abuse his powers
I had roommates like that, but they were from New Jersey.
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Philo's Law: To learn from your mistakes, you have to realize you're making mistakes.
Fun bit of trivia: Sarah Shahi is a Persian Princess. (Can trace her lineage back to a 19th Century Shah)
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Philo's Law: To learn from your mistakes, you have to realize you're making mistakes.