Let's send out for elastic loaves

OK, let's say your plan to get the world's attention away from your nuclear buildup by having a surrogate attack another country works too well. You've been used to seeing your picture on CNN and Fox News on a regular basis, but now ... nothing.

What do you do?

If you're Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad you ban the use of foreign words, especially those from the West, that have been assimilated into your native tongue. Now "pizzas" will be known as "elastic loaves" throughout Iran.

The Associated Press reports:

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.

We wonder if Levi's are now known as "long rough cotton pants that sometimes fit too tight and chafe the crotch."