Two words for the price of one this week.
πακετάς, plural πακετάδες = a delivery person.
Walking past a γυράδικο today, I saw a job advert on the window “ΖΗΤΕΙΤΑΙ ΠΑΚΕΤΑΣ” I was wondering why anyone would be looking for someone to wrap and box food for takeaways. Small eateries don’t usually have that level of specialisation. πακέτο is the word you use when you want to say you’ll take your sandwich with you rather than sit in. I assumed πακετάς had to mean a delivery person. I was correct, but according to www.slang.gr it is only used in Northern Greece:
Ο ντελιβεράς, διανομέας, σε πόλεις της Βορείου Ελλάδας. Επειδή φέρνει το φαγητό πακέτο. Εξ ου και οι αγγελίες ή χαρτιά σε τζαμαρίες καταστημάτων ταχυφαγείων, «ζητείται πακετάς». I love the example they give:
– Πω ρε μαλάκα, με έχει κόψει λόρδα, πού είναι ο πακετάς χάθηκε; Hey, shithead, I’m starving. Where’s the “paketas”? Has he got lost?
– Ο ΠΟΙΟΣ; WHO??
– Ο ντελιβεράς ρε χαμουτζή! The delivery boy, you stupid Southerner.
And your bonus word: χαμουτζής, plural χαμουτζήδες, is a colloquial word used in the north of Greece for an Athenian. It comes from χάμου (χάμω) meaning ‘down’ so, by extension, further south. There’s an amusing discussion here: https://www.slang.gr/definition/2643-xamoutzis