Firoozeh Dumas Quote

The F Word My cousin’s name, Farbod, means Greatness. When he moved to America, all the kids called him Farthead. My brother Farshid (He Who Enlightens) became Fartshit. The name of my friend Neggar means Beloved, although it can be more accurately translated as She Whose Name Almost Incites Riots. Her brother Arash (Giver) initially couldn’t understand why every time he’d say his name, people would laugh and ask him if it itched. All of us immigrants knew that moving to America would be fraught with challenges, but none of us thought that our names would be such an obstacle. How could our parents have ever imagined that someday we would end up in a country where monosyllabic names reign supreme, a land where William is shortened to Bill, where Susan becomes Sue, and Richard somehow evolves into Dick? America is a great country, but nobody without a mask and a cape has a z in his name. And have Americans ever realized the great scope of the guttural sounds they’re missing? Okay, so it has to do with linguistic roots, but I do believe this would be a richer country if all Americans could do a little tongue aerobics and learn to pronounce kh, a sound more commonly associated in this culture