Iranian Watchdog demands population stop texting and start 'payamak-ing'

Very similar to the French, the Iranians are keen to keep their culture free of too many westernisms that have been slipping into their language. There is apparently no Farsi for terms like texting and SMS. The nearest they’ve found is ‘payam’ which means ‘message’. That works, I reckon.

Anyway, more details:

Link: Iranian linguistic centre wants Farsi term for SMS

An Iranian linguistic centre has called for the use of a Farsi term for mobile-phone text-messaging, or SMS, the Fars news agency reported Wednesday. The Farhangestan, the country’s linguistic watchdog centre responsible for presenting genuine Persian vocabulary, has approved the Farsi term payamak (little message) for SMS, Fars reported.

Payam means message and -ak is a diminutive ending in Farsi.