Northern Greece has escaped so far, but the area north of Athens is in flames. It is never clear how these fires start. Arson is certainly a factor. High temperatures can be another trigger. A third might be smoking. I have noticed lately that a lot of people smoke in their cars, often with the... Continue Reading →
24/011 Greek Word – δεντρογαλιά = Balkan whip snake
No, I’m not morphing into David Attenborough. Weever fish a few days ago and now a snake. It’s just that I hear or read words and, if they grab my attention, I post them. My mother-in-law was born in Epirus in a tiny village near the Albanian border. When we go there in the summer,... Continue Reading →
24/006 Life in Northern Greece
Recently I posted the word σταρχιδισμός, which means “je m’en foutisme”. There is no neat equivalent in English, and certainly not a very Anglo-Saxon counterpart to “insouciance”. My small village has a street market every Friday. And every Friday arse-holish parking becomes a serious issue. Every Friday some lazy bastard causes chaos by parking on... Continue Reading →
24/010 Greek Word – δράκαινα = weever fish
A Greek friend had a serious medical episode following contact with the above. The original meaning is a female dragon (δράκος), an ogress, and its dorsal spines can inflict serious pain if you accidentally tread on it. The δράκαινα lurks in shallow waters and mudbanks, making fish and human contact more probable. Why ‘weever’? Nothing... Continue Reading →
24/007 Irish Music in Northern Greece
The scene is dead. The resurrection in both Thessaloniki and Athens will happen in September. Personally, I haven’t done much practice, but I have added a lot of tunes my collection. I have also published the music for the September/October sessions as well as completing a draft for November/December. One of my current aims is... Continue Reading →
24/009 Greek Word – χειροδικώ = slap
One indicator of progress in language learning is one’s ability to produce synonyms. Greek has several words for slap. A small list of nouns and their verbs: χαστούκι χαστουκίζω σφαλιάρα σφαλιαρίζω μπάτσα μπατσίζω (μπάτσος is also slang for a policeman!) κόλαφος κολαφίζω (used mainly metaphorically) But one should never underestimate the capacity of Greek to... Continue Reading →
24/006 Irish Music in Northern Greece
It’s nearly July so we are aestivating. Our next sessions will kick off on September 15th. My mind is more preoccupied with the UK election and the football (Euros) than with the music. The Athens Irish Festival was held at the end of May in Peristeri Park. It was a lovely setting. The Session –... Continue Reading →
24/005 Life in Northern Greece
It has been a busy few days here. Sunday, June 23rd, was Pentecost so Monday was a bank holiday. We have had a lot of tourists from Serbia, North Macedonia and Bulgaria. As most of them are Orthodox like the Greeks, they also took advantage of the long weekend. I haven’t found much of personal... Continue Reading →
24/009 Greek Word – παρασάγγης/παρασάγγας
απέχω παρασάγγας (από) = to be a far cry from, to be wildly different, be miles away The παρασάγγης was a Persian unit of distance, approximately 5,243 metres according to Babiniotis. www.wiktionary.org states it was the equivalent of 30 Greek stadia or 5,554 metres - or the distance a foot soldier could be expected to... Continue Reading →
24/008 Greek Word – καρεκλοκένταυρος = a jobsworth
καρεκλοκένταυρος – a politician or civil servant determined to hold onto his or her position. Where civil servants are concerned “jobsworth” could be a reasonable translation. In it for their own good, and generally unhelpful with regard to Joe or Jo Public. As we know, in mythology the centaur had the head, torso and arms... Continue Reading →
24/005 Irish Music in Northern Greece
Monday, May 13th 2024. Yesterday we had our May session in the Dubliner. St Thomas’s Day in the Greek calendar, something that left my bank account lighter as I had to cross with silver the palms of the two Thomases in the family. It was also Mother’s Day, and Ken was once again very generous... Continue Reading →
24/007 Greek word
βίλλα/βίλλος - dick, cock in the Cypriot dialect I wonder why there are - like mainland Greek’s πούτσα/πούτσος - feminine and masculine variants. Not that I have been engaging in dick discussions with Cypriots. The word came up in a chat about football. I suppose it could be argued that the Beautiful Game has no... Continue Reading →
24/004 Irish Music in Northern Greece
We ended April with a gig in the Dubliner. Not our best. We started and finished strongly, but we were patchy in the middle. The pace of life, distances, crap public transport, the impossibility of parking in the city, and family commitments can all get in the way of practice. Our lack of practice –... Continue Reading →
24/003 Irish Music in Northern Greece
17th April 2024: We had our April session on Sunday 14th. The music selected was virtually the same as the March session. I think the players felt more comfortable, so I will leave the selection untouched until the autumn. The combination of Dubliner and session/gig seems to have put a jinx on Liverpool, who have... Continue Reading →
24/004 Life in Northern Greece: Bedrooms and Bathrooms
April 17th, 2024: In this update I will talk rubbish. In a previous post I spoke of Greeks’ penchant for dumping crap on the pavement. I attached a news report with household effects dumped on what Greeks call the pavement or sidewalk, το πεζοδρόμιο. Within 50 metres of my home in one in one direction... Continue Reading →
24/006 Greek Word – σκρολάρω to scroll (on a computer)
Another borrowing from English that is being used instead of κυλάω. Κύλιση (scrolling) is also losing out to σκρολάρισμα.
24/005 Greek Word – μπουρδουκλώνω = confuse, make a mess of, trip
In the passive (μπουρδουκλώνομαι) it means ‘trip’, often as a result of having one’s feet among cables and wiring. It’s a word that would have come handy in our last gig when six of us were occupying a small stage with instrument, mic and electric cables posing a real trip hazard.
24/003 Life in Northern Greece
I took this photo of a tree in our communal garden. This was at the end of February. Apparently, it is a Japanese acacia. I’ll take another pic when it flowers. It’s a lovely tree whose branches are very long-reaching, the length far exceeding the height of the tree. Winter is now well and truly... Continue Reading →
24/002 Irish Music in Northern Greece
March is always a good month. Plenty of practice and a couple of gigs, Sadly, our little adventure in Grevena didn’t happen. I don’t know if we asked for too much money or if the festival suffered from a lack of sponsorship. Or maybe accommodation was an issue. A brief look at www.booking.com suggests there... Continue Reading →
24/004 Greek Word – κουνουπίδι = cauliflower…
24/004 Greek Word – κουνουπίδι = cauliflower… … but on overhearing two young gentlemen in conversation, I learnt that κουνουπίδι as in έγινα κουνουπίδι means “I got hammered” ie very drunk. The discussion became livelier when one of them described his inebriation as έγινα κωλοτρυπίδι, an unlisted variant of κωλοτρυπίδα (literally arsehole). The best English... Continue Reading →