Usually, I focus on words with non-Greek roots, so-called “loan words”. Why do we call them that when we never give them back? Anyway, this week’s word is Greek through and through unless someone wants to take me to some dark corner of Indo-European historical linguistics to prove otherwise. επιστράτευση – epistratefsi = mobilization. The... Continue Reading →

μανούλα = mummy, but… From 6am today, 4th March 2021, the Greek government further tightened the restrictions already in place. Schools are closed again. If you want to go out, you have to send a text to 13033 and enter a number between 1 and 6, your name and address. The numbers are code for... Continue Reading →

λαμαρίνα = sheet metal. Though the dictionaries don’t tell you, λαμαρίνα also refers to the bodywork of a car. Most of the words I choose tend to be words that I have heard. Λαμαρίνα is one of the few exceptions. I was watching a Norwegian series called ‘Accused’. As the series was on Nova on... Continue Reading →

παρενόχληση (parenokhlisi) = harassment, especially σεξουαλική παρενόχληση, sexual harassment. Making a change from the stressful boredom of endless Corona updates and scaremongering about new strains and mutations, the “Me Too” movement has finally arrived in Greece. It began around two weeks ago when a female athlete accused her former trainer of abuse. By the end... Continue Reading →

μπουρλότο – burloto, literally a fireship, a small vessel loaded with explosives and/or combustible materials sent towards an enemy ship in order to destroy it. Maybe it comes from the French brûlot. (The switching of the “r” like fromage and formaggio in French and Italian respectively, is called rhotic metathesis.) Amusingly, in what must have... Continue Reading →

καριόλης/καριόλα kariolis (man), kariola (woman) “Κανένας κα ριόλλης απο αυτούς που κανόνισαν αυτή την συγκέντρωση θα πάει ΦΥΛΑΚΗ!!!!!!! ΓΑ ΜΗ ΜΕ ΝΟΙ!!!!!!!!” If we employ certain words on a post, sensors kick into action followed by censors banning our posts. Which is why we employ tricks like sh!t or f@ck to get round any potential... Continue Reading →

ποστάρω (postaro) = post something online My word of the week is loosely connected with my post on this year’s Epiphany. I mentioned a tweet posted by Professor Dermitzakis. The headline said: “Ο Δερμιτζάκης πόσταρε δύο φωτογραφίες…” = “Dermitzakis has posted two photographs…” I was taken aback by the verb ποστάρω because I thought the... Continue Reading →

A few days ago I made a mess of the two doors on the driver’s side of my car. Bollard 1 Car 0. I took it to the dealer who quoted a price not much lower than the car’s current value. My neighbour told me I should take it to the nearby φαναρτζή. I replied... Continue Reading →

φράγκο = franc, nowadays more generally money, especially in certain expressions. After Alexander, Greece suffered many invasions. First it was the Romans (οι Ρωμαίοι), then the Franks (οι Φράγκοι), Venetians (οι Ενετοί or οι Βενετοί) and Turks (οι Τούρκοι); and their periods of rule in Greece are called η Φραγκοκρατία, η Ενετοκρατία and η Τουρκοκρατία... Continue Reading →

τσιφούτης – tsifoutis = mean, stingy Recently I wrote that for a nation of moderate drinkers (by north European standards, at any rate), Greeks are not lacking in expressions for ‘drunk’. It is the same with parsimony. If one were asked to describe Greeks in one word, I imagine ‘mean’ or ‘stingy’ would be far... Continue Reading →