I thought I had heard/seen most traditions and customs in the Persian culture, at least the common ones, but here is one that caught me off guard. The other night at a dinner party with some very well educated people, one being a well versed scholar in Persian history and culture, as my wife came in with our new born son of two months, the gentleman looked at him and then with a smiling face looked at my wife saying : he is very ugly!….long silence…. My wife and looked at each other very puzzled but managed somehow to not show it smiling back in silence, thinking “what da?!?”.

Later on we found out, this phrase is said to ward off the evil spirits, for those who believe in it I guess. So I guess you learn something new every day and if this happens to you (at least when someone Persian says it), they don’t really mean it; you can hope.