Salong bolas and salong guhits

Eto ang nakakatuwang news ngayong umaga. I have nothing against Iranians. After all.. EEEEEEHHHHH!!! Ang gagagwapoooo nila!!! I should know, I had about 4 very very good looking Iranian classmates in Manila, ok?!

But I find this news funny. It brings back memories during Marcos time. Di ba? Noon kasing panahon, they herded all these supposedly intelligent, well-educated Pinoy researchers with PhD's and what have you to improve the Filipino language. The members of the board pa nga comes from such well known schools as the University of the Philippines, etc. blah! blah! blah!

And the words that they came up with...are did you know?

Well...

Chair = Salung Pwet
Briefs or male underwear = Salong Bola
Panty or femail underwear = Salong Guhit

Ang galing di ba? Can you imagine us Pinoys out there talking to foreing professionals with all our salong guhit crap invented by some crazy PhD comprised board of duhhh?

We never heard about all these salong bola anymore because it was such a big comedy of some sorts at that time. Remember when we made Pilipino as the medium of instruction then? Ayun, nagkapalpak palpakan ang mga estudyante natin. Which is why we are back to all these All-English medium of instruction. Gone are all the salong bolas.

Which brings me back to this Iranian President.

Let me tell you Mr. President. We did that. It didn't work. HA HA HA Language evolves!!!

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered government and cultural bodies to use modified Persian words to replaceforeign words that have crept into the language, such as "pizzas" which will now be known as "elastic loaves," state media reported Saturday.

The presidential decree, issued earlier this week, orders all governmental agencies, newspapers and publications to use words deemed more appropriate by the official language watchdog, the Farhangestan Zaban e Farsi, or Persian Academy, the Irna official news agency reported.

The academy has introduced more than 2,000 words as alternatives for some of the foreign words that have become commonly used in Iran, mostly from Western languages. The government is less sensitive about Arabic words, because the Quran is written in Arabic.

Among other changes, a "chat" will become a "short talk" and a "cabin" will be renamed a "small room," according

to official Web site of the academy.