Fall 2012
		Table Talk
					Nick Papandreou
			So I have been making a list of words. If I give you a few can you figure out the governing principle? Here’s three: Rhythm, Zone, Police. No? Cemetery, Story, Planet. Okay. It’s “Greek words in English.” How much are these worth? Are they worth the three hundred and fifty billion Euros that is Greece’s debt? That is one argument made today in IMF-land by some nationalists who shout: “We gave Europe their language! They owe us!” Quotes from unknown poets, inspired by the 1821 War of Liberation against the Turks, are back in popularity. Key phrases are yellowed in and circulated over the blogosphere—old soldier to a wealthy man: “My blood gave you your crown…” In fact, of that massive debt, doubtless an onerous burden (all Latin in that phrase, since the Romans one-upped the Greeks for terms used in finance), a hundred billion is actually financial borrowings of Greeks from Greeks—think pension funds that bought Greek bonds (now worth nearly zilch, a very non-Greek word). So let’s reduce that burden of debt a wee bit, since it is not owed to the foreigners but to the Greeks themselves. This Greek-to-Greek debt surely cancels out the linguistic borrowing element. Tally now stands reduced. Is there a word-for-word price? What about Greek origin words that are extremely common in English, like “butter” or “zoo”? Does price vary ac-cording to frequency of use? There are words and there are words. Some have a deeper importance and provide greater meaning to us all, words like philosophy and plot and theater. Can you imagine Marx without the dialectic? Literary critics without synchronicity and antithesis? The medical profession without pediatricians and podiatrists, endocrinologists and gynecologists? Shrinks without therapy? Is there a money-back guarantee if the word doesn’t work for us? What if it gets us into trouble? I recall a very long discussion about philanthropy with my friend Henry Roncali when I was fifteen that lasted for weeks and ended up with my giving away twenty dollars to a homeless man on Yonge Street. Do I get a refund? I recall being accused of being an egoist by a girlfriend—the beginning of the end. My written reply was rather Latinate, however. “You are not at all magnanimous, you are officious…” What about extremely rare words like hypogynous or apotheosis? A zero price? Who keeps the lexic meter running? Who are the protagonists in this endeavor? But hold on there. Do English speakers not owe the Italians some sort of linguistic fee? Do we not owe the Germans for the achtungs and verbotens in all those Captain America comic books? And what would we really do without Yiddish, you putz? Mugwump and moose, papoose and moccasin? And the Irish, also buckling under the hard boot of the IMF—with their brogues and their leprechauns… The Nordics, relatively debt-free, have a say in the debt buyback scheme as well. I would say Wednesday is worth much to me. Squat in the middle of the week, it’s when I have time to think, pause, and write. I think we owe the Vikings about twenty-five billion for that. Although Thursday is a close second, come to think of it, predisposing me to the upcoming weekend as it does. And the French did their part in bolstering up the English language. They gave us petty and pettiness, art nouveau and la vie française and joie de vivre and vin blanc and le jogging, though I think Italian Prime Minister Monti should tax the French every time they try to monopolize the dictionary of love. (Oh, but the Ancients, they pretty much own the House of Eros, no?) One psycho-linguistic explanation that I was given to explain Merkel’s stance towards Greece runs as follows: in German the word “debt” (Schuld) also means “guilt.” Thus, indebted Greeks are automatically guilty Greeks. I could go on. So could you. At the end of the day I think we would all find that the debt of one language to another is pretty much squared away. Or maybe not. Maybe when all is said and done, and the linguistic DNA deciphered, the West still owes Greece about fifty billion for use of its language. But can’t this be balanced out by going the other way around? Do not the Greeks owe a drachma or two for use of their words? Take ouzo, Henry Miller’s drink of choice. One urban myth (Latin and Greek in that term) claims it derives from an accident: the grappa-like liquid mixed with anise was sent regularly abroad. On the crates were written the words: Per l’uso di… For the use of…. There is also another list: Greek words invented by non-Greeks in English. I don’t know how to price that one. Example: Utopia (for No-Place) was in fact invented by Thomas More, a man well-steeped in the classics. Do the Greeks now owe the Right Honorable Lord Chancellor’s descendants some serious payback? Another such oddity is the word Disaster—a bad alignment of the stars—from “dis” (negation) and “aster” (star). This word exists in neither ancient or modern Greek, though it is solidly Greek. “Don’t dis me” might be worth quite a lot, if the meter runs on degrees of cool. Don’t dis me is what the Greeks are saying right now. Because when it comes down to it, even more than getting rid of that despicable debt, even more than claiming that the world cannot abandon the place where it all began (albeit before any of us were alive), today’s Athenians want back one thing: respect. We are all, American-Greek mongrels like me and pure-bloods of Turkish-Vlach-Ancient origin, grasping for straws, right now, to create the new narrative. Will it be “indebted country wags its hand at the rascally foreigners and absconds”? Will it be “indebted country works hard, shoulders its past and stands tall”? I prefer the latter. My one-line narrative goes like this: first comes the epic heroism, then the democratic dialogue, and finally we arrive where we must—therapeutic catharsis. Nick Papandreou, author of A Crowded Heart and Father Dancing, lives in Greece.

A song for Greece

A song for Greece

Καλο καλοκαιρι!!

Learning zeimbeiko dance!!!

Πράγματι, έτσι χορεύετεαι το ζειμπέκικο!!!!

Τραγούδι της εβδομάδας

Στίχοι: Λευτέρης Παπαδόπουλος
Μουσική: Μίμης Πλέσσας
Πρώτη εκτέλεση: Γιάννης Πουλόπουλος


Θα πάρω δώδεκα παιδιά
δώδεκα παιδιά
δώδεκα μαντολίνα

Να τα πληρώνω μάτια μου
μάτια μου,
για σένα με το μήνα

Τα έξι κάθε πρωινό
να σε γλυκοξυπνάνε
και τ' άλλα κάθε δειλινό
από τη γη ως τον ουρανό
σεργιάνι να σε πάνε

Θα σπάσω τους καθρέφτες σου
καθρέφτες σου
σαρανταδυό κομμάτια

Να βλέπεις να χτενίζεσαι
χτενίζεσαι
μες στα δικά μου μάτια

Τ' αποχτενίδια θα κρατώ
που πέφτουν στην ποδιά σου
και θα τα κάνω αγάπη μου
μαλαματένιο φυλαχτό
να δέσω την καρδιά σου

Αρνηση/ Σεφερης

Παλιωσε το σακκακι μου/ Τσιτσάνης

Plato and the soul

Σας στέλνω ένα απόσπασμα(fragment) σχετικά με την φιλοσοφία του Πλάτωνα για την ψυχή.


http://www.matia.gr/7/73/7302/7302_1_7.html

Πρέπει να διαβάσετε εκεί που λέει για την "η φιλοσοφία του Πλάτωνα για την ψυχή".

Αδαμ, αφιερωμένο!!!

O κύκλος των χαμένων ποιητών

Γεια σας παιδιά,

Σας στέλνω τον σύνδεσμο για την ταινία "Ο κύκλος των χαμένων ποιητών"(Dead poet's society) με
ελληνικούς υπότιτλους(Greek subtitles).

http://tvxs.gr/webtv/tainies/o-kyklos-ton-xamenon-poiiton

Τραγούδι της εβδομάδας

Είμαστε πια στον Μάρτη και άνοιξη μυρίζει!!!
Για αυτή την εβδομάδα το τραγούδι που προτείνω λέγεται "Άνοιξη" και το τραγουδάνε οι Γλυκερία
και ο Δημήτρης Ζερβουδάκης.

Στίχοι: Θοδωρής Κοτονιάς
Μουσική: Θοδωρής Κοτονιάς
Πρώτη εκτέλεση: Γλυκερία - Δημήτρης Ζερβουδάκης ( Ντουέτο )


Κόκκινο τριαντάφυλλο
Είσαι μες στην καρδιά μου
Την νύχτα γίνεσαι πληγή
Που τρώει τα σωθικά μου

Έρχεσαι πάντα πιο νωρίς
Κανείς δε σε γνωρίζει
άλλον τον κάνεις ν' αγαπά
Κι άλλον να μη γυρίζει

Και δε σου φτάνουν όλ' αυτά
Φεύγεις και δε θυμάσαι
Ωραία είσαι άνοιξη
Γιατί δεν μας λυπάσαι

Έρχεσαι λίγο κάθεσαι
Στον κήπο μας κι ανθίζεις
Το αίμα μας επότισε
Κι ανάσταση μυρίζεις

Κι όταν θα φύγεις τίποτα
Δεν θα ΄ναι όπως πρώτα
άσε για λίγο ανοιχτή
Του ουρανού την πόρτα

All my friends for Greece

'Ενα βίντεο και τραγούδι για την Ελλάδα που μερικοί φίλοι από την Ελλάδα μου έστειλαν




http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Tp5mfWlW5Cs

Greek humor

Λατρεύω τα κόμικς και ο αγαπημένος σκιτσογράφος είναι ο Αρκάς:

Λίγα λόγια για τον Αρκά:

Arkas (Greek: Αρκάς) a Greek comics artist that started his work in middle 80s. He seldom appears at conventions, and generally avoids publicity and appearances on television shows or interviews, as he has been quoted as believing that the artist should be known through his work, not through personal promotion. His real name is unknown, although the Greek newspaper Kathimerini has also mentioned it as Antonis Evdemon.
Arkas in Greek means Arcadian or someone from the province of Arcadia. However, the CamelCase style in which his name is written suggests that Arkas may be only his initials. Arkas has been translated into other languages and has become known outside Greece. Translations of his books can be found in English, French, German, Romanian, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Bulgarian, Polish and Serbian.

Η σελίδα του στα αγγλικά και ένα δείγμα από τα κόμικς του!

http://www.arkas.gr/index.php/gr/1/lang/en03.htm

τα κόμικς= comics
η σελίδα= page
το δείγμα= sample
λατρεύω= to adore 

International Day of Multilingualism

Επειδή σήμερα είναι η διεθνής μέρα της Πολυγλωσσίας, βρήκα ένα βίντεο από το BBC.
Θα ακούσετε και ελληνικά!!!!


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17107435

'Ενα ενδιαφέρον άρθρο που διάβασα

Χθες διάβασα ένα πολύ ενδιαφέρον άρθρο σχετικά με την μακροζωία και το νησί της Ικαρίας στην Ελλάδα.

Ο σύνδεσμος είναι εδώ: http://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/column.php?c_id=1501

Ελπίζω να το βρείτε κι εσείς ενδιαφέρον

ενδιαφέρον= interesting
άρθρο= article
μακροζωία= longevity
νησί= island
σύνδεσμος= link

About "το τραγούδι της εβδομάδας"

Γεια σας παιδιά,

Κάθε εβδομάδα "θα ανεβάζουμε" (post) κι από ένα τραγούδι που μας αρέσει στα ελληνικά.
Για αυτή την εβδομάδα διάλεξα (chose) ένα από τα πιο ωραία τραγούδια του Γιάννη Πλούταρχου.

Σχετικά με τον Γιάννη Πλούταρχο, κοιτάξτε εδώ:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

Giannis Ploutarhos (Greek: Γιάννης Πλούταρχος; born 18 December 1970) is a popular Greek singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most popular laïko singers of his time, and has been characterized with having a genuine laïko voice. To date, he has released 11 studio albums along with one greatest hits album.

Early life

Giannis Ploutarhos was born as Giannis Kakossaios on 18 December 1970 in the small village of Mavrogia, outside Orchomenos. Ploutarhos comes from a poor rural family, which long struggled to make ends meet. He first started singing at age six, while his whole family would sing while working to get through the day. His first musical influences came from Dimotiká and traditional Byzantine music. Ploutarhos lived there until the age of sixteen, at which point he decided to move to Athens to pursue his dream of becoming a singer. He had told his family he wanted to move the Athens to study Hairdressing.
Once in Athens, Ploutarhos began working during the day at a hair salon while singing at clubs at night. His first gig was at a small club in Korydallos. Disappointed by the prevailing conditions in the music business, he abandoned singing twice and pursued other occupations to support himself. Despite previous disappointments, Ploutarhos' love of music pushed him back into the business and just two years after his first performance, he started appearing at club Rodolfo, which was followed by appearances at bigger clubs such as Neraida, Fantasia, and Tonel where he collaborated with well known laïka names such as Giannis Poulopoulos, Rita Sakellariou, Themis Adamantidis, as well as Contemporary aïka artists such as Stelios Rokkos and Giorgos Mazonakis. Around that time, Ploutarhos came into contact with Dimitris Kardatzis and Ilias Filippou who believed in his talent, and got him in touch with his first producer Girgos Makrakis, who is credited with inspiring his stage last name "Ploutarhos".

Οι στίχοι(lyrics) του τραγουδιού "O θησαυρός"(treasure) είναι οι εξής:


Νιώθεις αυτά που νιώθω
Πονάς όταν πονάω
Γελάς όταν γελώ
Κι αν έξω κάνει κρύο θα με κρατάς εσύ ζεστό
Θέλεις αυτά που θέλω
Μου δίνεις και σου δίνω
Εσύ είσαι εγώ
Κι απόψε τραγουδάω
Μόνο για σένα που αγαπώ


Αν η ομορφιά ήταν χρυσός
Θα ήσουν θησαυρός
Θα ήσουν θησαυρός
Και μάρτυράς μου ο Θεός
Για σένα είμαι τρελός
Για σένα είμαι τρελός


Για σένα είμαι τρελός…
Για σένα είμαι τρελός…


Σ’ αγγίζω και μ’ αγγίζεις
Δακρύζω και δακρύζεις
Κι αν με ρωτάς γιατί
Στις φλέβες μας κυλάει ο έρωτάς σε υγρή μορφή


Αν η ομορφιά ήταν χρυσός
Θα ήσουν θησαυρός
Θα ήσουν θησαυρός
Και μάρτυράς μου ο Θεός
Για σένα είμαι τρελός
Για σένα είμαι τρελός


Για σένα είμαι τρελός…
Για σένα είμαι τρελός


Καλή ακρόαση!!!!

Let's have a go with the basics

Α	α	άλφα = alfa	Άννα	Anne	Like a in father
Β	β	βήτα = veeta	βάρκα	Boat	Like v in Victor
Γ	γ	γάμα = yama	γάτα	Cat	Like y in yes
Δ	δ	δέλτα = thelta	δώρο	Gift	Like th in this
Ε	ε	έψιλον = epselon	εγώ	Me	Like e in bet
Ζ	ζ	ζήτα = zeeta	ζωή	Life	Like z in zebra
Η	η	ήτα = eeta	ήλιος	Sun	Like ee in beet
Θ	θ	θήτα = theeta	θάλασσα	Sea	Like th in think
Ι	ι	γιώτα = yota	Ιστός	Web	Like ee in beet
Κ	κ	κάπα = kapa	καλός	Good	Like c in car
Λ	λ	λάμδα = lamtha*	Λαγός	Rabbit	Like l in lemon
Μ	μ	μι = me	μαμά	Mum	Like m in mother
Ν	ν	νι = nee	Nερό	Water	Like n in no
Ξ	ξ	ξι = xee	ξύλο	Wood	Like x in ax
Ο	ο	όμικρον = omikron	όλος	Whole	Like o in only
Π	π	πι = pee	πάγος	Ice	Like p in poor
Ρ	ρ	ρο = ro	ρολόι	Watch	Like r in rain
Σ	σ,ς**	σίγμα = seyma***	σαπούνι	Soap	Like s in see
Τ	τ	ταυ = taf	τώρα	Now	Like t in top
Υ	υ	ύψιλον = eepselon	ύπνος	(the)Sleep	Like ee in beet
Φ	φ	φι = fee	φωτιά	Fire	Like f in Frank
Χ	χ	χι = hee	χήνα	Goose	Like h in hair
Ψ	ψ	ψι = psee	ψάρι	Fish	Like ps in lips
Ω	ω	ωμέγα = omega	ώρα	Time (12.30)	Like o in only

Καλως ορίσατε / Welcome

I would like to welcome you on this page dedicated to the Greek Language.