anti-progress

- reposting b/c it posted my comment as anonymous and I don't know why b/c I did sign in....

A restaurant opened around the corner from where I work and they really do have "freedom fries" on the menu. Of course, for us, we order them because we think it's funny and ridiculous. "I'd like the freedom fries with my hamburger, please." It's ironic considering that they didn't rename the hamburger too, considering its origins. "I'd like my freedom fries with my Ghenghis meat patty sandwich." Of course, the word sandwich is still acceptable due to the fact that it's British and was thus named(sandwich) before the Revolutionary War and kept its name because our memories are short.

If anything however, from a business perspective, refusing to use a word that has become universally known because of its origin, will merely hinder a person when they have to leave the "safety" of their home country. Of course, currently, an Iranian person would know the equivalent "western" word to use when in a business meeting with foreign counterparts because they would have been forced to change their verbage. However, 10 years from now, if the laws of language really did adhere, an Iranian business person would be handicapped per se, amongst his/her foreign counterparts. It's not as if these are slang words or swear words that would be rude to use. Or maybe the business people, those being the ones who would bring foreign revenue into the country, will be exempt due to their benefit to society. $$$$$$$$$

As westerners, we would suffer horribly if we had to trade in parts of our language because of its origin. We don't have an original language to fall back on.

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