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This latest piece by Γ. Ιωάννου is about the supposed virtues of 'advanced' countries. It seems very tongue in cheek: Υπάρχουν τεράστιοι χώροι με δένδρα, υπάρχουν μεγάλα δένδρα στους δρόμους, δένδρα στις αυλές -διότι υπάρχουν αυλές, εφόσον διατηρούνται πολλές μονοκατοικίες. What exactly does...

Thanks, both. Would για χι ψι λόγους sound natural in modern Greek conversation, as 'for X,Y,Z reasons does?

What is the Greek equivalent for X, Y, Z in the following idiomatic examples?:- It means for reasons unknown and not worth speculating on. -Many people don't like country music for XYZ reasons, but I've always really enjoyed it. -For XYZ reasons, I don't thinks it's worth building this...

I have sent a letter to Dr Tofallis but no answer as yet. I wait in hope. Leprosy is indeed an inspired guess. At least this thread has produced creative answers. I hope the reply isn't an anticlimax.

What an inspired & obvious (now!) suggestion! Thanks, Earion. The email has already been sent.:rolleyes:

The plot thickens! Thanks for the information about Spinalonga. I hadn't realised that Hansen’s disease was rife is Greece before WWII. How did lepers on Spinalonga-Kalydon get food and help? Who buried them? Did Orthodox priests risk their lives to help and give them spiritual support and the...

Thank you both for your speculative answers. The book I am trying to translate excerpts from is the book I have mentioned is by Dr Kypros Tofallis, entitled Modern Greek Translation and was published in 1997 with a fully revised edition in 2003. It is poorly edited with no headings to help the...

This translation book I am using is becoming very irritating. Many stories are unfinished, like jokes without a punchline. Anna has a terrible secret and one day, despite the fact that she had gone into exile into a παλιογειτονιά from her own home village and from all those she knew and loved...

What do people mean when they say of a tailor: Α, αυτός είναι σπουδαίο ψαλίδι? 'Ah, he's an excellent pair of scissors'?!:confused:

Θενξ, αγαθοί Δρ. και Δούκα.

Who are these Ludwigs? For instance:- Νίκος Καμτσής, σκηνοθέτης [http://www.ethnos.gr/arxiki_selida/arthro/kata_ti_anoteroi_ton_loudobikon-121908/]. «Τότε που το παραμικρό κεντητό πουκάμισο, το πιο φθηνό βαρκάκι, το πιο ταπεινό εκκλησάκι, το τέμπλο, το κιούπι, το χράμι, όλα τους αποπνέανε μιαν...

Thanks for all the contributions! I'm nearly overwhelmed by all this expertise: my overwhelming is worth it!

Thanks, Daeman. I couldn't find the idiom anywhere.

I'm beginning to understand it now, thanks to you all. What does the phrase : σου έκανα επιμέλεια mean, please, Daeman.

Thanks, both. First, a question to SBE: is there a reason for adding another της πιάνανε? What exactly does the λιγουλάκι mean here? 'Touch her up a bit? Or touch her legs up a bit? It is peculiar that the men aimed at her legs/calves! I took the της to go with γύρα. Thanks to the Duke, I...

A very pretty woman, dolled up to the nines & standing out in the crowd, though engaged to Kasoglou's chauffeur, has come to a Sunday football match to see if her former boyfriend--a policeman--was on duty there at the match. Προτού αρχίσει η συνάντηση, οι αρσενικοί γύρα της πιάνανε κουβέντα...

Thanks, Earion & SBE. I couldn't really express in English the meaning of ύφος. The definitions you have given help a great deal. Your comments on the stranger's possible difference in style & discourse are helpful. The guard should have served his time as a warder in his home island of Aegina...

Thanks, Earion, for your detailed explanation of the grammar: I will mind my που's in future! Since the man concerned was old (ηλικιωμένος) when he got the job as a prison warder, I presume that ψήφιζε means therefore “used to vote for”, i.e. implies he was now perhaps dead.

In the context of the speech I think he must mean 'the march of Socialism and Communism into Eastern Europe and China. After the Allies prevailed against the Nazis, part of the division of previously free countries was according to who would "protect" those countries from such atrocities...

Another phrase from the same passage: The person with the different accent came from Aegina, he had been shipwrecked at sea, lost his nerve and wanted another job, so a well-known politician που ψήφιζε ο πατέρας του κι έβγαινε βουλευτής στον Πειραιά, τον βοήθησε να διοριστεί φύλακας. The...