Dole Envy
Dole Envy
THIS IS TRUE... at first I thought it was a joke, but saw it reported in the Straits Times as well.
Great marketing opportunity for dildos in Iran, eh?
Tehran (Reuter) - For the past few weeks, the behind the doors discussion at many Iranian newspaper and magazine publishing outfits seems to be revolving not around political, social and economic issues, but the spelling of Bob Dole's name instead. It turns out that the proper spelling of the Republican Party's likely nominee, Dole, is exactly the same as that of the word penis in Persian. "At first it might seem funny to some people, but it's creating a serious issue for us. How can we write headlines using that word?," said Majid Fanni, a prepress specialist at a Tehran service bureau.
Professor Hassan Khadem, a Persian literature lecturer at New York University added "It's actually not a real problem. In Persian, certain vowels are optional. [Therefore] they could write his name a couple of different ways to avoid the ambiguity. But for an exact pronunciation, 'Dowl' as opposed to 'Dol', well, they'd have to spell it that way." Fanni explained "It's not easy. In print, especially for headlines, we don't use [optional] vowel symbols. Because of that, his name can be read in that way."
International organizations are quite familiar and cognizant of these types of issues. General Motors for example, spends over 300,000 dollars a year just researching car names to make sure they are not trade marked, as well as being acceptable in foreign countries.
Ali Zarkoob, a grade school teacher in Western Tehran said "I'm sure kids will find it very funny. The humor magazines will probably go crazy over it too." A columnist for Tehran's Hamshahri daily who requested to remain anonymous stated "It's a real problem that no one wants to face. Think about it. What should we write if he wins? 'Clinton loses Presidency'? That's not right. 'Penis wins US Presidency' isn't exactly acceptable either.!
THIS IS TRUE... at first I thought it was a joke, but saw it reported in the Straits Times as well.
Great marketing opportunity for dildos in Iran, eh?
Tehran (Reuter) - For the past few weeks, the behind the doors discussion at many Iranian newspaper and magazine publishing outfits seems to be revolving not around political, social and economic issues, but the spelling of Bob Dole's name instead. It turns out that the proper spelling of the Republican Party's likely nominee, Dole, is exactly the same as that of the word penis in Persian. "At first it might seem funny to some people, but it's creating a serious issue for us. How can we write headlines using that word?," said Majid Fanni, a prepress specialist at a Tehran service bureau.
Professor Hassan Khadem, a Persian literature lecturer at New York University added "It's actually not a real problem. In Persian, certain vowels are optional. [Therefore] they could write his name a couple of different ways to avoid the ambiguity. But for an exact pronunciation, 'Dowl' as opposed to 'Dol', well, they'd have to spell it that way." Fanni explained "It's not easy. In print, especially for headlines, we don't use [optional] vowel symbols. Because of that, his name can be read in that way."
International organizations are quite familiar and cognizant of these types of issues. General Motors for example, spends over 300,000 dollars a year just researching car names to make sure they are not trade marked, as well as being acceptable in foreign countries.
Ali Zarkoob, a grade school teacher in Western Tehran said "I'm sure kids will find it very funny. The humor magazines will probably go crazy over it too." A columnist for Tehran's Hamshahri daily who requested to remain anonymous stated "It's a real problem that no one wants to face. Think about it. What should we write if he wins? 'Clinton loses Presidency'? That's not right. 'Penis wins US Presidency' isn't exactly acceptable either.!
Funny Scale: 2.00 Dirty Scale: 2.00 (37 votes)