IT BEGAN as an academic study of Farsi vernacular, but A Persian Dictionary of Argot has become the latest must-have item in Iran, rapidly running through six editions and still selling out in every bookshop in Tehran.

The reason for its success is not hard to fathom. The book lays bare the codes that Iranians, particularly the young, have adopted to circumvent the restrictions of the rigid theocracy in which they live.

As girls and boys are not allowed to mix in public, cruising around in single-sex cars and surreptitiously swapping telephone numbers is the only way of meeting the opposite sex. Thus a slew of slang expressions revolve around the car.

A virgin is a “zero kilometre”, a reference to a car with no mileage on the clock. A non-virgin is an “overturned car”. A pregnant girl has “been in an accident”, and “hubcaps” is the word for a girl’s bottom.

“Cor, look at the axle on that. And what a blinding pair of headlights,” is typical chat between young Brylcreemed Iranian men.

Like most closed societies, Iran is a hotbed of conspiracy theories. Accordingly there is a chapter called “Deception”. A spy, for example, is a “BBC”, reflecting the belief of many Iranians that Britain is the puppet-master of world politics.

The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance examined the book for several months, and surprisingly allowed it to be published with very few changes.

“The censors are being really liberal with what they are allowing,” said one political analyst, who interpreted the book’s approval as a last act of defiance by the reformist Government of President Khatami before a more conservative regime took over this week.

The book’s author, Mehdi Samaei, 45, a doctor of linguistics, is bemused by its astounding success.

“Chronicling the Farsi language is my job. This was a scientific study. I don’t know about politics, I’m just an academic,” he said.

The book’s editor, Fereydoon Fatemi, likewise plays down the book’s political appeal.

The reason for its success is plain, he says. “It’s just really funny.”

How to tell a hubcap from a headlight

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