10 funny Greek swear words

10 funny Greek swear words

 In this lesson we are going to learn some funny swear words. We will learn their literal meaning and how to use them metaphorically.

The first one is my favorite funny swear words. Ο χαλβάς. It is a word we use for three different delicious sweets we make in Balkans and in Arabic countries. It is not a Greek sweet. We probably started making it here in Greece from the 12^th century. We use the word χαλβάς metaphorically too for a man who is sluggish and fearful and he does not take initiatives. The man who doesn’t know how to deal with unfairness and he is always ready to do whatever other people ask him to do, most often what his mother asks him to do. 

So we can say Ο Γιώργος είναι and then the noun in Nominative when we talk with someone else about George. Ο Γιώργος είναι χαλβάς.

Or when we talk directly to George we use the Vocative case «Xαλβά!»

Τhe next word is the word ξανθόψειρα. Ιt is a compound word. The first part is the adjective ο ξανθός – η ξανθιά/η ξανθή – το ξανθό/blond and the second part is the feminine noun η ψείρα/louse/cootie. So it is a blond louse. We use the word for a blond woman when we want to say that her blond hair and her white skin make her colorless and ugly. The strangest thing is that you will hear only women using this word and most often the blond woman they call ξανθόψειρα is in fact a very beautiful woman.

Third word. Μπαγλαμάς. As far as I know it is a Turkish word. It is a seven stringed musical instrument that looks like a μπουζούκι but it is much smaller than a μπουζούκι. Because of its tiny size very often we use it metaphorically too for a man who always says stupid things, for someone we don’t like because we think that he is stupid. So, I can say to my friend:

Πάλι μ’αυτόν τον μπαγλαμά ήσουν;/were you again with that stupid?

The word can also be used when we are talking to someone who did something stupid to refer to him.

Άσε μας κι εσύ, ρε μπαγλαμά!/ Leave us/don’t bother us, stupid.

Forth word. Ο κεφτές or το κεφτεδάκι mean the meat ball. We don’t cook this kind of food only with meat but also with tomatoes, so we have ντοματοκεφτέδες/tomato balls, κολοκυθοκεφτέδες/pumkin balls, μελιτζανοκεφτέδες/eggplantballs etc. So, the word κεφτές which comes from the Turkish köfte is used to describe different ingredients rolled up into a small ball. Metaphorically we use the word κεφτές for a man who is a little bit fat and sluggish.

Next one. Φυτό. It is the plant. As plants are motionless, we call φυτό someone who is in a coma, who is unresponsive and cannot be woken. Also, you will hear children using this word when they talk about one of their classmates. They call φυτό a very good student who studies many hours every day, who cares only about the lessons and he does not participate in other activities.

-Πιστεύεις ότι   θα έρθουν όλοι οι συμμαθητές μας στο πάρτι μας το Σάββατο;/ Do you think that all our classmates will come to our party on Saturday?

- Όλοι εκτός από τον Κώστα. Αυτός είναι φυτό. Ακόμη και το Σάββατο το βράδυ θα διαβάζει./ All except for Kostas. He is a “φυτό”. Even Saturday evening he will be studying.

We can use the word φυτό either for a boy or a girl.

Sixth word. Στόκος/stucco, a construction material made of aggregates, a binder and water. The word στόκος is used for someone, man or woman, who is stupid.

Χίλιες φορές σου το εξήγησα. Τι δεν καταλαβαίνεις; Στόκος είσαι;/I explained it to you a thousand times. What don’t you understand? Are you blockhead?

Another word with similar meaning is the word τούβλο/brick, a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Again the word can be used for a man or a woman who is stupid. We also use this word for students who cannot learn easily their lessons.

-Άφησε το βιβλίο και έλα να παίξουμε, ρε Γιώργο. Μην είσαι φυτό./ Leave the book and let’s play, George. Don’t be a φυτό.

-Καλύτερα φυτό παρά τούβλο σαν κι εσένα./ Better a φυτό than brick like you.

8^th word. Βλήμα. It literally means “projectile”. We use the word metaphorically too to say that a man or a woman is stupid. As the projectile goes straight ahead, the same way a stupid person can do something without realizing that it can be harmful to someone else. The same way a stupid person acts without thinking about it before.

Τι έκανες, ρε βλήμα; Άφησες την πόρτα ανοιχτή και μπήκαν μέσα κλέφτες./ What did you do, stupid? You left the door unlocked and thieves got into/ broke into.

The next one is the word πατσαβούρα. It is a piece of old cloth, especially one torn from a larger piece, used typically for cleaning things/the rag.

As the rag is a dirty and ugly piece of cloth, we use this noun metaphorically for a woman who is dirty, ugly or she has a bad behavior. To make it even stronger we can combine the noun with the adjective παλιός/παλιά/παλιό/old. So we have the compound word παλιοπατσαβούρα.

-Τελικά θα βγεις με τη Μαρία; Εάν δε βγεις μαζί της, είπε πως θα βγει με τον Δημήτρη./ Finally will you go out with Maria? If you don’t go out with her, she said that she will go out with Dimitris.

-Να βγει με όποιον θέλει η πατσαβούρα./ She can go out with anyone she wants. Η πατσαβούρα here is the woman with bad/dirty behavior.    

And the last word for today is the word τσόκαρο, a kind of simple slippers, shaped and hollowed out from a single block of wood. As in past only poor women were wearing this kind of slippers, we call τσόκαρο a low class woman with bad behavior. Also, as the sound when we walk with sabots is nerve racking, we use the singular form of the noun, τσόκαρο, for a woman who makes us extremely nervous.