What is the difference between 'Persian' and 'Arabic'? (vs, design)

[FaceInTheCrowd]

Caught some jackasses making wise cracks about me at the corner store.
Asked them what language they were speaking in, obviously making fun of me, they said 'French' .... hilarity ensued. For them.

I spoke back to them, in their native tongue, like I was hawking a loogie, "Awaka "Hawka Waka socka...Aika"...and they finally said 'Arabic'.
'Oh, Persia?' I replied.
One said , 'Yes.'
The other said, 'No, there is a difference.'


My question:
What is that difference?


Thanks.

[BIMBAM]

They are unrelated languages from different linguistic families. Persian is more related to English than it is to Arabic. Persian languages are spoken in countries like Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan etc., Arabic is spoken in the Arabian peninsula, Iraq and points west of there to Israel, and in North Africa (Egypt, Morrocco). Persia is a distinct civilization from the arabs, and was before Islam as well. They are also mostly Shia Muslims whereas Arabs are mostly Sunni Muslims. Persians have different food, musical traditions, and literary traditions. Really, all they have in common is being nominally Muslim and from roughly the same basic part of the world, but otherwise they don't have that much in common.

[jtur88]

The only link between Farsi (the language of Persia => Iran) and Arabic is that they both use the Arabic alphabet. Otherwise they are dissimilar and not mutually intelligible. The Urdu language of Pakistan also is written in Arabic alphabet, but is actually the same as the Hindi language of India, which is written in Sanskrit alphabet. The completely unrelated Somali language is also written by most people in Arabic alphabet. An alphabet is nothing but an arbitrary set of symbols which designate certain vocal sounds, and implies nothing at all about the language, just as there is no connection between Turkish, Polish, Finnish and Portuguese, which all use the same alphabet we do.

Many Iranian emigres call themselves Persian, in order to express their disapproval the Iranian government. The name Persia was changed to Iran in international diplomacy in 1935.

[FaceInTheCrowd]

Maybe it was Iran...it was a long time ago...

[drshang]

I don't know if this is necessarily the correct answer, but when I think of the difference between a "Persian" and an "Arab" I think of basically the more westernized government of Iran run by the Shah vs the current, more fundamentalist Islamic based government today.

One side note, many of the "Persians" who emigrated to Los Angeles are actually Jewish.

[FaceInTheCrowd]

Originally Posted by jtur88

Many Iranian emigres call themselves Persian, in order to express their disapproval the Iranian government. The name Persia was changed to Iran in international diplomacy in 1935.

Good post. So, if these people call themselves 'Arabic'...what am I to assume?

[Ruth4Truth]

Right, on the linguistic front. (Agreeing with BIMBAM, & others) Persian = Farsi = Iranian, which is related to the Indo-European language family. Arabic is Semitic.
Those guys were speaking Arabic, so ... they're Arabic. Maybe you assume they're from the Arabian Peninsula (as opposed to Iraq, also Arabic-speaking), but I wouldn't particularly assume anything, except that they're Arabic-speaking. You can always ask them, you know. Actually have a conversation with them, as if they're normal people.

[BIMBAM]

Originally Posted by drshang

I don't know if this is necessarily the correct answer, but when I think of the difference between a "Persian" and an "Arab" I think of basically the more westernized government of Iran run by the Shah vs the current, more fundamentalist Islamic based government today.

One side note, many of the "Persians" who emigrated to Los Angeles are actually Jewish.

They didn't become Arabs following the revolution, they just got a new form of government. It's true that Persians who don't identify with the revolution prefer to call themselves Persians rather than Iranians, but no Persian would call themselves an Arab, it'd be like if Austria became more devoutly Catholic again and people started calling them Polish because of that.

[FaceInTheCrowd]

FaceInTheCrowd
This message has been deleted by elnina. Reason: trolling

People are so sensitive. C'mere and give me a hug.....
So, because people come to our country, and insult us in their language, we shouldn't be offended? That's 'trolling'? Sounds like real life trolling to me...

[Trimac20]

Originally Posted by BIMBAM

They didn't become Arabs following the revolution, they just got a new form of government. It's true that Persians who don't identify with the revolution prefer to call themselves Persians rather than Iranians, but no Persian would call themselves an Arab, it'd be like if Austria became more devoutly Catholic again and people started calling them Polish because of that.

Yes, goes without saying, Persians and Arabs are totally different people. I think some people get confused because Arabic is the language of Islam and the Qu'ran. There was/is indeed a Jewish community in Iran and many Middle Eastern countries, they don't tend to do well in countries where you either must become or are strongly pressured to be Muslim by law.