# Two proverbs & the same obscure word



## Theseus (Mar 12, 2017)

These two proverbs contain the same obscure word. What does it mean?:-
Γίνηκαν τά σκατά, νά *μπαταλιάρουν* οί κώλοι & Γίνηκαν οι κώλοι, νά *μπαταλιάρουν*’ τά μουνιά.:)


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## daeman (Mar 12, 2017)

...
Never heard of these proverbs (or "proverbs") or the verb μπαταλιάρω until today, but from the context I gather it comes from μπατάλης:

*μπατάλης *ο [batálθs] θηλ. μπατάλα [batála]: (προφ.) για άνθρωπο μεγαλόσωμο και άχαρο ή δυσκίνητο. || (ως επίθ.).
[τουρκ. battal -ης· μπατάλ(ης) -α]

for which the common verb is *μπαταλεύω*: γίνομαι μπατάλης, γίνομαι χοντρός, πλαδαρός, άχαρος και δυσκίνητος.

I guess the meaning of the two sayings becomes clearer now, although they are still dirty.


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## Theseus (Mar 12, 2017)

Thanks again, 'Man. Sorry for the smut. That seemed to be the only context the words were used in.


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## SBE (Mar 12, 2017)

Theseus, I am curious as to what you are reading that contains such high frequency of a certain type of vocabulary.


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## daeman (Mar 12, 2017)

SBE said:


> Theseus, I am curious as to what you are reading that contains such high frequency of a certain type of vocabulary.



https://greekinter.net/γίνηκαν-οι-κώλοι-νά-μπαταλιάρουν-τά-μ/αιδοιο

He's digging deep and reached the dregs, scraping the bottom.


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## Palavra (Mar 13, 2017)

SBE said:


> Theseus, I am curious as to what you are reading that contains such high frequency of a certain type of vocabulary.


I was going to ask the same thing :) And no, I have no idea what this phrase means.


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## Theseus (Mar 13, 2017)

Sorry again, SBE. I was trying to find the meaning of μπουκονάτο (σικ) & I was taken all over the place because I couldn't find the word at all. Similarly with μπαταλιάρω. They all seemed to be used in doubtful contexts, many of them slang or vulgar. This led me on to other references & so on. I have no intention of looking at the site 'Man mentioned. I have an obsessive mind. I remember trying to find for an eminent Classics professor the Latin for ice-skates & for a babies feeding bottle. It took me more than a week to find one & over a month to find the other, δηλ. ice-skates, which were first mentioned by a medieval author, William Fitzstephen, when the Thames froze over. I am laid up again with a fourth severe chest infection & I spent the day trying to find the two words mentioned above. It may seem scraping the dregs for which I apologise. Eventually I found μπουκουνάτο (spelt correctly). In the other crude one I entered in Greek-English Language enquiries I am more concerned with they hung the Pasha than the first four-letter rhyming bit. 
Perhaps it would be better if a moderator removed it.


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## Theseus (Mar 13, 2017)

A further comment. Palavra has suggested that I put any crass comments under one entry. The trouble is that being frustrated & ill again, I tended to enter things piecemeal & at random as I read them or came across them. Excellent advice from a treasured colleague!


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