Sayings and Proverbs

Another common saying is "Ti trehi?" - What's running? Used in the context of "what's happening with you?", or, "what's happening in your life?" or, "there seems to be a lot of excitement at the Potamos pazarri today, wh...

Another word, commonly used by Kytherian-Australian's in the 1980's was "brizzes" - or "powerpoint" to describe Asians generally. Their father's, uncles, cousins - and often themselves - having suffered racial slurs and...

Kytherian Peter Friligos learnt his journalist's trade on the Police Beat as a rookie reporter. "It exposed him to Sydney's underworld and the mix of hustlers and punters and desperates that were always looking for the q...

Exe ta pothia sou zesta Ti kefali sou kria To stomaki sou athyano Yiatro ne exies xria Keep you feet warm Your head cold Your stomach empty You will never need a doctor Many Kytherian sayings were based on a powerful bel...

Another word - commonly used/heard in the last century amongst Kytherians, but increasingly less used - was the word -"djorwos". The word means playing generally - children playing, playing sports... etc. For Kytherians...

Small Head Portrait on Obverse of Late George V soveriegns. In numismatics - obverse means the "front" of the coin. Being a Yeoryi - one of my favourite sayings was "Opou Yeoryis Mulama" - "Where there is a George - the...

In another entry under Sayings and Proverbs I chronicled the use of the word "bludgitha" as a hellenised Australian word for lay-about or lazy person. (Australian - "bludger".) The "real" Kytherian word (you wont find it...

Muvri Ksenitia - is a phrase that has more recently been bought to the attention of Hellenes world-wide by Harry Feros. Harry's father, Nikolaos, arrived from Kythera in 1921. [From the name Feros - my guess is that he w...

Another common saying was "vassi alati" - "is he/she adding salt?" Used in the context of "is he/she telling lies?" - or "is he/she embellishing that recollection/story/incident so much that it is now so exaggerated - it...

Another common saying was "He/she who doesn't speak, they bury him/her". "Opios then mila ...tou thavoune." Used as a means of ensuring that people did not become "socially dead" - by not speaking up/out. Encouraging peo...

In 1923, Theodore Crithary, son of "Papa Vangelli" Crithary - longtime priest and schoolmaster of Karavas (for photograph see Vintage Portraits/ People: Father Evangelos Crithary the priest of Karavas and his wife Stamat...

Another Australian-Kytherian word of the 1980's was "Micky Bondicky". In Australia - when something is very good it is said to be "grouse" - or, in rhyming slang - "mickey mouse." A word created out of a Greek-Australian...

The acronym* KMC was commonly used by a group of young second generation Kytherians in the 1980's to desribe gambling nights held at various venues in Sydney - but most often at Ramsgate Avenue, Bondi Beach. These often...

Another lingual development in Australia that amused those of us second-generation Kytherian-Hellenes was the way in which the first generation of Kytherians would "Hellenise" intrinsically Australian words - creating a...

As we know Kytherians emigrated from Kythera en mass. Many of these Kytherians, in their adopted countries devised there own words and sayings. A group of second generation Kytherian-Australians in the 1980's used the wo...

Another saying my Father had ,when I would do something wrong, would be to tell me; "Na fas mia, Na thees dio" Which , litterally meant that if he smacked me across the face once , I would be seeing double. I never tried...

when I was a teenager or younger and I wanted to stay out late at night, my Father use to tell me this little saying about the consequenses of roaming around late at night. A certain calamty that would happen to someone...

I think one of the most visually dynamic expressions I heard, growing up in a Kytherian household was - "to cut off a persons air supply". "Na kopsis tin aera tou." This meant/means literally to cut off a persons air sup...

To act "cocky" like a rooster - is expressed in Greek as "na mus kunis to kokira." - which means literally to strut around like a prize rooster in a hen house. It was usually used in this context - "mi mus kanis to kokir...

Another common saying was "we will achieve (this) and (then) we will dance". "Tha to kanoume ke tha horepsoume." Used in the context of someone questioning a person(s)/group(s) ability to achieve a particularly difficult...