εκπαραθυρώνω – defenestrate I love it when a word is immediately understandable. In Greek, like English, it can be used literally and metaphorically. The current metaphorical favourite in British English is ‘throw someone under/in front of a bus’. Were I to translate that into Greek, I would probably choose εκπαραθυρώνω. As Greek has borrowed extensively... Continue Reading →

παράσυρση = running over and dragging a pedestrian or a cyclist along the road. Word’s spellcheck does not recognise the above. It offers alternatives like παράλυση and παράφυση. Nor does Babiniotis have it as a headword or even within the definition of its parent verb παρασύρω. The word caught my attention when I saw this... Continue Reading →

ετεροδημότης (fem: ετεροδημότισσα) = someone who lives in one municipality but who is registered to vote in another. It’s election time. Maybe it’s because I live outside the city that the campaigns seem less febrile than usual. Besides, Sunday 21st May will likely be Round 1, so the real battles will take place from Monday... Continue Reading →

σκαρφίζομαι = dream up, make up, come up with an (improbable) story, επινοώ I got this from the telly. There is a channel on Nova called Epic Drama, mostly consisting of murder mysteries such as the Canadian series Murdoch, a UK/Austrian series called Vienna Blood, Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, and other UK staples such as... Continue Reading →

Λέτσος = shabbily dressed, a borrowing from the Italian ‘lezzo’. The Dictionary of Greek goes further: Άνθρωπος βρόμικος και κακοντυμένος, κουρελής μτφ. α) άνθρωπος χωρίς αξία και σοβαρότητα β) άνθρωπος με άσχημους τρόπους και άσχημη εμφάνιση. What amused me, on overhearing two women talking, was that they were not talking about some tramp hovering nearby... Continue Reading →

καρμίρης, plural καρμίρηδες, feminine form καρμίρω Basically, it means a miserable git, a bit of a miser, too mean to enjoy life if it involves spending money. Άνθρωπος μίζερος, κακομοίρης που δεν χαίρεται τη ζωή, για να μην ξοδέψει λεφτά. (Babiniotis) It seems to have developed from an earlier form of κακομοίρης, the Hellenistic κάρμοιρος... Continue Reading →

μπούλιγκ = bullying One of the surprising problems teachers encounter among English language learners is the -ing form of two-syllable verbs ending in “y” e.g bully, carry, marry, scurry, worry. Even good students will say and write bulling, carring , marring, scurring, worring, finding it hard to produce all three syllables. The problem is less... Continue Reading →

I’m more interested in the suffix than the word itself. ψαρίλα = the unpleasant smell of fish. Not a compliment. Babiniotis states: η δυνατή και απωθητική μυρωδιά του ψαριού Often preceded by μυρίζει or βρωμάει, it is a complaint. I suppose βρωμάει gives it added force.Μυρίζει ψαρίλα = It stinks of fish Βρωμάει ψαρίλα =... Continue Reading →