Weird and funny Greek expressions

 

 

Weird and funny Greek expressions

Lesson 56.

Today we will learn some weird and funny Greek expressions we often use in daily life. So, if you want to sound more natural in Greek, you should be able to understand and to use this kind of expressions and idioms. Some of them are really funny, because they sound weird to Greeks as well.

For example, you will hear native speakers say “Ησυχία ακούω”/I hear silence. Of course we know that we cannot hear the silence, but many native speakers often use this phrase. For example when they enter their home they say “Ησυχία ακούω. Τα παιδιά μάλλον δεν είναι εδώ./I hear silence. Probably, the children are not here”. It is a phrase we use when we don’t hear any sound and we guess that no one else is in the same place with us or that the other person is sleeping or studying or anything. But we guess, we are not sure.

When we talk to someone and he doesn’t listen to us, he ignores us, we usually say “Με γράφεις;/ Are you writing me?”. We mean “are you ignoring me?” Of course, it is a very informal phrase and we can use it only when we talk to our friends.

The next one is “Mε δουλεύεις;” Again an informal way to ask someone “Are you kidding me?”

A very funny question is “Πας καλά;”/ Are you going well?” We mean “are you serious?”

 And if we are sure that the other person said or he did something crazy, we say “Δεν πας καλά!/ You are not going well”. You are not serious.

When a child leaves home, the mother says “Tα μάτια σου δεκατέσσερα.”/ Υour eyes 14. It is a phrase we use not only when we talk to a child but generally when we want to ask from anyone, who is going to do something dangerous, to be very careful.

A phrase I really love is “Πετάω χαρταετό”. It literally means “I fly a kite” and we mainly use it in second and third singular persons.

 Think about 2 men in a café or a pub. A very beautiful woman is looking to one of them. Half an hour later his friend is telling to him “Τι κάνεις, ρε φίλε;/What are you doing dude?” Η θεά με το κόκκινο σε κοιτάζει κι εσύ πετάς χαρταετό./ Τhe goddess with the red (maybe red shirt, red skirt, red dress, we don’t know) is staring at you and you are flying a kite. So it is a very funny, in my opinion, phrase to say that someone cannot understand or he doesn’t want to understand something important.

One more example. Ο πατέρας του κάνει δύο δουλειές για να τα φέρουν βόλτα κι αυτός πετάει χαρταετό.

 Τα φέρνω βόλτα or τα βγάζω πέρα mean here “to have money to buy what you need to live/ to make ends meet”. So, his father has two jobs to make ends meet and he is indifferent.    

When someone asks a question and it is impossible to know its answer, we usually use the phrase μυρίζω τα νύχια μου/I sniff my fingernails. In ancient Greece oracles to find out an answer they were putting their fingers into a liquid made from laurel oil and then from their fingers’ smell they were able to answer to any question. So my friend is telling to me:

 Θα κερδίσει ο Ολυμπιακός ή ο Παναθηναϊκός;/Olympiakos or Panathinaikos will win? And my response is: Πού θέλεις να ξέρω; Nα μυρίσω τα νύχια μου;/ How am I supposed to know? Should I sniff my fingernails? We mean “should I consult the oracle?”

For someone who jumps from one relationship immediately into another and all his relationships last a short while, we say αυτός αλλάζει τις γυναίκες σαν τα πουκάμισα/he changes  women like shirts. We mean as often as he changes shirts, he changes partners as well. Or αυτή αλλάζει τους άντρες σαν τα πουκάμισα/she changes  men like shirts.

And if I am in love with someone and I talk to him about my feelings but he is in a relationship or in love with another woman, I can say to my friends: έφαγα χυλόπιτα/I ate a χυλόπιτα, which is a food. Many years ago when“fake doctors”  were not able to cure some diseases, they were claiming that it was a matter of disappointment in love. In order to get well the patients had to eat for some days this food. This is why this phrase means today  “ to be rejected by a man or a woman”.

If you are the person who rejected someone’s love and you are a woman, you can say του έριξα χυλόπιτα, and if you are a man της έριξα χυλόπιτα.

And if we want to say that he or she cheats on me, we say Με κερατώνει./ He or she puts horns on me. The formal way is με απατάει.

Αnd the last phrase is one of my favorite phrases:  είσαι για τα πανηγύρια. It literally means “you are for the festivals”.

A panigiri is an old traditional festival organized mainly in villages where the main saint is celebrated. We use this phrase for someone who doesn’t care about problems and he is only interested in having a good time.