Patrick Comerford
In A Modest Proposal, a satirical essay written in 1729, Jonathan Swift suggested that impoverished Irish families sell their one-year-old children as food to wealthy English landowners.
The essay is dark satire, aimed at exposing the heartlessness of the ruling class, who treated starving Irish peasants like economic commodities rather than human beings. Swift is not advocating cannibalism; rather, his actual point is to demand real social and economic reforms – such as taxing absentee landlords and buying locally produced goods – to help the suffering Irish people.
Swift’s satire came to mind many years ago when I was among a group of journalists in conversation about the pitfalls when it comes to learning and speaking Greek.
Trying to acquire a working grasp of the language you are working in is often an important professional commitment for journalists, when we need to grasp nuances and asides and need to be meticulous about direct quotations. But it is an undertaking filled with many pitfalls.
One journalist in our group, a Spanish speaker originally from Latin America recalled her difficulties in learning Greek confronting her starkly when she thought the menu in one restaurant had included ‘little children’: she read παιδάκι (paidáki) ‘little child’ or ‘toddler’ (singular, neuter) or παιδάκια (paidakia), ‘little children’ (plural), instead of παϊδάκια (païdákia), ‘spare ribs’.
What a difference a diaeresis makes!
In modern Greek, ‘little children’ can be rendered as μικρά παιδιά (mikrá paidiá), a literal and common way to say ‘little children’ or ‘young kids’. The word μικρά (mikrá)) simply means ‘little ones’.
On the other hand, there are variations on παϊδάκια: χοιρινά παϊδάκια (choiriná paidakia) is specific to pork ribs, while αρνίσια παϊδάκια (arnísia paidakia) usually refers to lamb chops or ribs.
Although I have lived all of my adult life as a vegetarian, I am aware of the need to know the difference between pork ribs and lamb chops, but even more conscious of the need to know the difference between spare ribs and little children.
I ought to have known better. The composer Manos Hatzidakis (1925-1994), whose father’s family came from the village of Myrthios, 20 km south of Rethymno, achieved international fame and success in 1960 with his song ‘Never on Sunday’, or ‘The Children of Piraeus’ (Τα παιδιά του Πειραιά), sung by Melina Mercouri in Jules Dassin’s film Never on Sunday (Ποτέ την Κυριακή).
In this case, though, the Greek word παιδιά (paidiá) can also have the same meaning as kids, guys or men.
I try – but I often struggle – to read menus in restaurants in Greece. Sometimes I can get it wrong and often with humorous consequences.
Sheep’s brain, known as αρνί κεφάλι (arní kepháliarní kefaláki), is a traditional delicacy in Greek cuisine, often eaten during Easter or special celebratory feasts. Yet one night in one restaurant in Rethymnon in Crete, the chalked menu board in English memorably offered ‘lamb’s mind’.
One night in Marem, one of my favourite restaurants in Platanias, east of Rethymnon, I ralised the menu opened with ψωμί με Συνοδευτικά (psomí me sinodeftiká). Why would I be interested in bread with a covering letter? But starters are also ‘little things brought together’ and ‘accompaniments’, like a covering letter accompanies a CV or a job application.
I opted for the small starters with bread instead of asking for the staff member’s CV. I was confident she was more competent and fluent in English than I am in Greek.
Words in this series:
1, Neologism, Νεολογισμός.
2, Welcoming the stranger, Φιλοξενία.
3, Bread, Ψωμί.
4, Wine, Οίνος and Κρασί.
5, Yogurt, Γιαούρτι.
6, Orthodoxy, Ορθοδοξία.
7, Sea, Θᾰ́λᾰσσᾰ.
8,Theology, Θεολογία.
9, Icon, Εἰκών.
10, Philosophy, Φιλοσοφία.
11, Chaos, Χάος.
12, Liturgy, Λειτουργία.
13, Greeks, Ἕλληνες or Ρωμαίοι.
14, Mañana, Αύριο.
15, Europe, Εὐρώπη.
16, Architecture, Αρχιτεκτονική.
17, The missing words.
18, Theatre, θέατρον, and Drama, Δρᾶμα.
19, Pharmacy, Φᾰρμᾰκείᾱ.
20, Rhapsody, Ραψῳδός.
21, Holocaust, Ολοκαύτωμα.
22, Hygiene, Υγιεινή.
23, Laconic, Λακωνικός.
24, Telephone, Τηλέφωνο.
25, Asthma, Ασθμα.
26, Synagogue, Συναγωγή.
27, Diaspora, Διασπορά.
28, School, Σχολείο.
29, Muse, Μούσα.
30, Monastery, Μοναστήρι.
31, Olympian, Ολύμπιος.
32, Hypocrite, Υποκριτής.
33, Genocide, Γενοκτονία.
34, Cinema, Κινημα.
35, autopsy and biopsy
36, Exodus, ἔξοδος
37, Bishop, ἐπίσκοπος
38, Socratic, Σωκρατικὸς
39, Odyssey, Ὀδύσσεια
40, Practice, πρᾶξις
41, Idiotic, Ιδιωτικός
42, Pentecost, Πεντηκοστή
43, Apostrophe, ἀποστροφή
44, catastrophe, καταστροφή
45, democracy, δημοκρατία
46, ‘Αρχή, beginning, Τέλος, end
47, ‘Αποκάλυψις, Apocalypse
48, ‘Απόκρυφα, Apocrypha
49, Ἠλεκτρον (Elektron), electric
50, Metamorphosis, Μεταμόρφωσις
51, Bimah, βῆμα
52, ἰχθύς (ichthýs) and ψάρι (psari), fish.
53, Τὰ Βιβλία (Ta Biblia), The Bible
54, Φῐλοξενῐ́ᾱ (Philoxenia), true hospitality
55, εκκλησία (ekklesia), the Church
56, ναός (naos) and ἱερός (ieros), a church
57, Χριστούγεννα (Christougenna), Christmas
58, ἐπιφάνεια (epipháneia), θεοφάνεια, (theopháneia), Epiphany and Theophany
59, Ζέφυρος (Zéphuros), the West Wind
60, Αύριο (Avrio), Tomorrow
61, καλημέρα (κaliméra), ‘Good Morning’, and καλαμάρι, κalamári, ‘squid’
62, Ελευθερία ή θάνατος, ‘Freedom or Death’
63, Ποδόσφαιρο, ‘Football’
64, καφές (coffee), Φραπές (frappé)
65, Odyssey (η Οδύσσεια) and Odysseus (Ὀδυσσεύς)
66, Cosmopolitan, Κοσμοπολίτης
67, Εἰρήνη (Eirene), Peace
68, Ρωμιοσύνη (Romiosini)
69, Μπουζούκι (bouzouki)
70, Παϊδάκια (‘spare ribs’) and Παιδάκια (‘little children’)
Series to be continued
