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The Greek Cypriot Lexicon |
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This curious word refers to anything big, heavy & cumbersome in a dismissive context thus its application
is highly subjective. It may also imply something outdated due to the characteristics above. Thus if your neighbour's |
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Eccentric. In fact the English is clearly taken from the Greek & constitutes one of the definitions for
the word. The other use is more complex & requires an understanding of the motivation of the speaker, specifically an over picky perfectionist with whom one is not in a position to argue. For example, the owner
of a much cherished mint condition Singer Gazelle (1499 cc petrol engine, four speed 1969 vintage) tells his mechanic that it is time to service his car. When he changes the oil in the gearbox, he explains with care, he
must use normal engine oil & not the thicker gearbox oil, as this is a peculiarity of design with that make of car. Some gear crashing days post service, the owner returns to the garage mystified at the curious
grinding noises coming from under the floor of his once smooth running car. The mechanic points out that the car is very old & problems must be expected, which was why he had considerately filled the gearbox with
extra heavy-duty gear oil. Once the shouting dies down the mechanic will perhaps change the oil again if paid extra, but he will later dismiss this troublemaking client to his neighbours as an ekkendrikos. Greece. Most Cypriots see themselves as Ellinez
despite their somewhat patchwork heritage. Prior to the 1974 invasion, 80% of the island's population described themselves as Greek Cypriots. In point of fact Cyprus has not always been Greek. This most Hellenic of islands made it's first appearance in recorded history when it was partially occupied by Egypt in around 1450 BC, during the reign of Thutmose III. Later mariners & trading peoples from the Mediterranean area set up settlements scattered along its coast.
The first vaguely Hellenic colony is believed to have been founded by traders from Arcadia in about 1400 BC. The Phoenicians began to colonise the island in about 800 BC. Subsequent Assyrian authority was followed by
Egyptian occupation (550 BC), then Persian (525 BC). Alexander the Great took Cyprus from Persia in 333 BC, & after his death in 323 BC the island again became an Egyptian possession, under the Ptolemies. Rome
gained control in 58 BC, followed by the Byzantines in AD 395, who ruled until 1191, when Richard the 1st
(The Lionhearted) seized Cyprus. In 1489 Venice took control of Cyprus. Turkey captured the island in 1571 & held it until 1878, when Turkey was defeated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. Fearing greater expansion by Russia, Turkey offered the island to the British. All in all then this "Greek" island enjoys a multi national heritage to be proud of & which it enthusiastically ignores. This blinkered approach to history also produces a few minor historical blind spots that it is wisest neither to challenge nor to laugh at.
1. Greece is the home of all civilisation. This argument only works if you draw a discrete veil over the Sumerian civilisation back in 4000 BC, the Egyptian civilisation around 3000 BC, the Far Eastern
civilisation in China about 2200 BC, the Minoan (c. 2000 BC), the Babylonian (c. 1700 BC), the Indian (c. 1500 BC), the Semitic (also c. 1500 BC) with the Graeco-Roman emerging breathlessly at a somewhat tardy 1100
BC. The Greeks might argue that as the Minoans were based on Crete & Crete is now a Greek island thus their civilisation was in fact Greek. However the same argument would mean that the Egyptians, Persians,
Venetians & British are also Greek as they occupied Greek Cyprus & is thus difficult to defend. The child is not his own father. 2. Greece claims to have given the world recorded history & literature
should also be viewed warily. The Greek alphabet emerged at around 1,000 to 900 BC from the Phoenician variant of the Semitic alphabet & not in a blaze of divine Hellenic inspiration as heretofore suggested.
Presumably in order to have developed an alphabet, these people took the trouble to write something with it other than notes to the milkman. Hence literature and recorded history. Furthermore, remember
cuneiform (pre 3000 BC) & hieroglyphics (some 100 years later.). The actual concept of the city-state in the Athenian pattern, the democratic cornerstone of the Greek civilisation, emerged as late as 700-300
BC, although its Arcadian progenitors managed to get out of bed early enough to spread into the Mediterranean around 1050-500 BC.
3. The Greeks are the fathers of modern medicine with a tradition dating from 600BC. With the exception of the Mesopotamians (approximately 3,500BC to 2330BC) with their pharmacopoeia of some 500 drugs, Imhotep
(2725 BC, the earliest recorded physician), the Semitic book of Leviticus with its detailed instructions on feminine hygiene & the segregation of the sick, & the Indians who used anaesthesia in their
treatment of the sick in 1500 BC, they may well be at that. See agabee. |
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Fachimenos Love or star-struck. This state of bemusement that supposedly leads the affected individual to perform in a mentally
subnormal fashion can be difficult to differentiate from the genuinely neurologically numbed. One diagnostic feature of this bedazzlement as distinct from classical idiocy is the somewhat narcissistic attitude of
affected individuals, especially among the population under the age of 40 years. Gucci or Yves St Laurent clothes worn to go to the supermarket. Oft repeated idiomatic speech sequences such as "Don't you know who I
am?" or "Do you realize who you are talking to?" or other statements that alone might argue delusions of grandeur are evident. Notable is also pumping iron ad nauseam & general behavior so
egocentrically attention seeking as to require therapy. Above 40 years old this obsession tends to taper off a little & the more obvious symptoms begin to subside.
Up until then, however, throwing a brick in any direction anywhere in Nicosia will hit at least five fachimeni (pl.), but as long as you can convince them the brick was hand crafted by Atelier Georgio Armani©
& how in Milano they are all doing it, even Sylvester Stallone, they will readily forgive you. After 40, the truly long-term fachimeni metamorphose into Narcissus (mythology), in Greek mythology, a handsome youth, the son of the river god Cephissus. Narcissus cruelly refused to accept Echo's love; she was so humiliated that she hid in a cave & wasted away until nothing was left of her but her voice. To punish Narcissus, the avenging goddess Nemesis made Narcissus fall hopelessly in love with his own beautiful face as he saw it reflected in a pool. As he gazed in fascination, unable to remove himself from his image, he gradually pined away. At the place where his body had lain grew a beautiful flower, honoring the name & memory of Narcissus. Food. Greeks are not so much motivated in their day to day lives as compelled. Their second major compulsion is food.
(The first is probably yinaiges
Pl. Type 2) The quantities of food consumed by the average Greek can only be described as prodigious. Their dietary input may be divided into three groups for you convenience. Group one - Traditional food.
Dishes indigenous to the region but frequently poached from further afield. For example, Group two – Fast food. Poor quality copies of fast food restaurants seen in the west. Pizzas like biscuits, soggy fried chicken & a variety of hamburgers that should come supplied with an anti emetic*.
A variety of bastardized group one foods are also available form shops called psistaria from the Greek psino (I cook). These disservices to tourism should be avoided unless a dose of salmonella typhi is
desired as a trick to avoid going home at the time appointed by your ticket. Caution –
Group three – fashionable food. These are items that are very big among the The best course in brief is staying traditional then checking into a health farm on you return home, unless you have a kolpo
(Cerebro-Vascular Accident alias stroke) in the meanwhile. Heart attacks or colloquially anakopes are very popular in Cyprus. Based on a high calorie, low fibre, high cholesterol diet in an area where smoking
tria paketa (three packets or 60 cigarettes) a day is socially acceptable, many people have the chance to experience one at least briefly. *A group of medications that suppress the urge to vomit.
Prochlorperazine is a good choice, as it tends to be sedating thus you take it & then decide to stay home & go to bed. A problem, difficulty or nuisance. A flat tyre on your car is a fasaria
unless it is a burst front tyre at 145 kilometers an hour whilst cornering whereupon it may well become a catastrophia since, if you survive, they may well send you to the
nosogomieon. (Unless regrettably a
kliniki gets you first.) Another use of the word is embodied in the phrase "tha gano fasaria" or "I am
going to make trouble". A Cypriot confident enough to shout this at you either has a few friends close at hand to "hold him back" whilst he raves of his martial arts/pugilistic prowess or else is much
bigger than you are. He may or may not shout a few Kung- Fu-esque "Ahhya"'s in an attempt to bluff or intimidate. He may also roar "adeh re" for emphasis if he is sober enough to articulate
it. Bearing in mind he will seldom issue this challenge unless he is positive there is no element of personal risk, it is best to leave immediately as this is a pre - A female from the Philippines. (Phillipinezos m.) These women & more recently their eastern European counterparts
were imported into Cyprus as agricultural workers, house servants & whores. Not infrequently viewed as a possession of the family, they have been known to be required to sleep on the floor of unheated voithitica whilst working a sixteen hour day & doubling as their owner's yinaiga of the moment if
desired. They may also be loaned to other individuals as a gesture of largesse. Legislation controlling these activities is commonly ignored, as is frequently the case where mangoscini meets
morality
. On occasions when they are well treated, their loyalty & industry are remarkable, although this is said to be less so with Foridon A mobile phone. This is in fact a high tech status symbol that has the additional bonus that it implies one or more of
the following:
1. The person holding it is of such importance that they are of a necessity reachable 24 hours a day. These persons will put on a show of annoyance if the phone rings & snap at the caller unless it is a
woman. 2. The owner (usually male) is rich enough to afford the latest GSM technology. These persons answer the phone with an air of indolence (even if it did not ring yet) & will speak very loudly to
draw attention to them. 3. The owner (usually female) lives in such a busy social whirl that only 24-hour satellite based telecommunications allow them to keep track of & arrange their multitudinous
social commitments, lovers, spouses, hairdresser appointments & plethora of friends. These persons answer the phone with a show of enormous shrieking delight & then issues a series of brisk mock-serious
commands as to where, when, how & why to get together. Alternatively they will look embarrassed & claim that they cannot talk now. The conversation is always concluded with a drawled "ciao" as
final proof of their total ultra sophistication.
These mobile phones trill, warble, beep & play fatuous little beepy tunes in church, at the beach, in restaurants, in cinemas, during concerts, in operating theaters, in cars being driven one handed,
& basically everywhere else too. Such has been their cultural impact that they have been incorporated into the "4 fi's" (f's) of Cypriot social attainment. Namely the
If only Alexander Graham Bell had realized he might have invented the light bulb instead. Fougou A barbecue. (Syn. Mangalli) In point of fact these sturdy & convenient portable steel devices form a focal
point for the life of the family in the summer. Any outing without the fougou is viewed as ill starred from the outset & liable to end in disaster. Crowded beaches on windy days, areas with a high risk of
fire, children's parties, all are considered eminently suitable venues for souvla, (char-grilled pork or lamb) despite the obvious risks involved. It is rare for persons to share a fougou.
Fifty families in close proximity a small beach will all have their own fougou close to hand & even a collapsible table to mount it on from the kasha of the Thiplowgambinon parked with the family at the water's edge.
So compulsive is this fascination that a possible religious link has been suggested with the fougou
being seen as some kind of family altar on which sacrifices are first burned & later consumed. The Sumerian god Ninurta was said to favour such practices around 3,000 BC. & indeed it was common to sacrifice to all of the many gods of the Sumerian Pantheon daily. Music, dancing & curious specific rites accompanied this. (Portable radios / televisions, beach parties & seaside automobiles?) Alternatively, it may be nothing more than a culinary
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