Greeklish!

topic posted Fri, February 15, 2008 - 5:08 PM by  Bob
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A post about the word "oikogeneia" also brought up the subject of words imported into Greek. The process is a natural one, and different dialects of Greek have more and less Turkish and other words depending on who they came into contact with. Greeks living in English-speaking countries have naturally brought in lots of English words, sometimes in more- and less-recognizable forms. Greeklish varies in different cities in the US, I'd also be interested in hearing from Greeks in places like Australia, South Africa, Canada and England.

I'll give mine in "quiz" format - give the word, use it in a sentence.

Some of my favorites:

Το σπιτάλι - spitali
Έσπασε το πόδι της η θεία Μαριάνθη κι ακόμη στο σπιτάλι είναι!

Το κάρο - karo
Too easy, won't even bother to give hints. :)

Το στέκι - steki
Τι να φάμε; Ε, δε πάμε στο Bonanza για κανα στέκι;

Τα μπιλοζέρια - bilozeria (Chicago)
Βάλε γερό παλτό παιδί μου! Έχουμε μπολιζέρια σήμερα!

Γόπα - ghopa (Boston)
(A friend's uncle used to order for this at McDonalds...)

Η μεδουβάνα - medhouvana (Boston)
Η Μαρία παντρέυεται αύριο! -Αλήθεια; Ποιά θάναι η μεδουβάνα;

Φριζάρω - frizaro (Chicago)
To λέκι - leki
Πω πωωω...τι κρύο είναι αυτό βρε! Φρίζαρε το λέκι κι ολας!




1. hospıtal
2. car
3. steak
4. below-zero weather
5. Whopper
6. Maid of honor
7. Freeze, lake.
posted by:
Bob
offline Bob
Turkey
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  • Re: Greeklish!

    Sat, February 16, 2008 - 12:11 AM
    I think I mentioned this already in the "family" thread, but I heard "to party" over and over again. And, I lived a long time in Minneapolis and was tickled and also a bit *chilled* to see 'bilozeria.' Hahahahaha...
  • Re: Greeklish!

    Sun, February 17, 2008 - 12:58 AM
    Greeklish / Greek / English

    aiskrimi / pagoto / ice cream
    banka / trapeza / bank
    spitalia / nosokomio / hospital
    stori / magazi / store
    troki / fortigo / truck
  • Re: Greeklish!

    Wed, September 23, 2009 - 9:22 AM
    I have another one..."Ta floria 8eloun ka8arisma." To be honest I despise Greeklish. I'm a native NYer but I am also a native Hellene so I appreciate the language being respected and clear. I believe it is due to mental laziness that one replaces a word one has forgotten in Greek and uses and English word and then supposedly Hellenises it. Yes, it is difficult to always switch from one language to another but try having 5. There is no excuse for recurring and concurrent mental laziness.
    • Re: Greeklish!

      Wed, September 23, 2009 - 10:08 AM
      Greeklish is (apparently) cropping up in Greece. An internet acquaintance of mine gave me a quote from a sign at one of the Greek National Banks in Athens, "Αντί να πάρω εγώ το ρίσκο, με πήρε εκείνο τελικά." I mentioned this to a relative in Nafplio and she claimed to have seen the same sign on a Greek National Bank there. "Risko?" What happened to Kindanos?! Actually, given recent economic affairs generated in the United States, I guess that I'm not too surprised to see "risk" showing up in English at a Greek bank! ;-)

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