Η λογική του Μήτσου
- Thread starter Theseus
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Mitsos is, lets' say, an average, little bit old-fashioned (as he is using the diminutive Mitsos from Dimitrios) Greek man. He could be working as a low-level clerk at some office, stamping papers all day long and giving unreasonable solutions to problems he meets for the first time. The "law of Mitsos" and the "Decalogue of Mitsos" is Lexilogia lingo, explaining how some unbelievable transcriptions of foreign names to Greek came to being, as "Mitsos" speaks a little English and doesn't care much for the fine nuances of the other languages.
Καλημέρα
The current slang.gr entry on Μήτσος is misleading. As dr7x explained above, Μήτσος is the average Greek with faults that have been affectionately incorporated into our own national image (when we are less affectionate, we use terms such as Ελληναράς or Καραγκιόζης). Back in the 1990s, the actor and playwright Lakis Lazopoulos created the television series called Δέκα μικροί Μήτσοι, presenting a range of such typical Greek characters in their most lovable moments.
I was the first one to introduce the character of Mitsos as someone at the Greek border responsible for the creation of Greek terms to replace foreign terms trying to enter the country and the language. (At inception, he was supposed to tackle proper names only and make sure they were transcribed accurately, though not too accurately, and definitely in one way known to all and acceptable by most.) He would be the solution to the rather chaotic situation prevailing at the moment, with various people in the media, the publishing world, sellers of imports and other such “first lines of defence” being the first to attempt the creation of Greek equivalents. Terminological bodies (such as the appropriate unit of the Academy of Athens or the Hellenic Society of Terminology) usually take too long to respond to such infiltrations and, by the time they come up with their own suggestions, other terms may have established themselves.
A case in point is Professor Babiniotis’ mini-crusade to have the Greek term γενόσημα for generic drugs replaced as inappropriate at a number of levels (see a brief presentation here), though the term has been around for many years. One of my own mini-crusades is to have drone transliterated as δρόνος rather than other half-baked ideas, so inadequate that many still prefer to use the English term.
Back to Μήτσος. He is supposed to be there early enough to give a solution based on folk wisdom as well as knowledge of what goes on at various levels. He knows how to use the web to find out how a name is pronounced but will not try to make Greeks pronounce Polish names as if they were Poles. He will know the rules of terminology but will also have the common touch and will not try to impose academic terms on everyday parlance.
So, you see, this Μήτσος is a rare animal, quick to react and very knowledgeable. He will be able to do, early in the development of a term, the job that language takes a few years to achieve, not always successfully, not always decisively.
The current slang.gr entry on Μήτσος is misleading. As dr7x explained above, Μήτσος is the average Greek with faults that have been affectionately incorporated into our own national image (when we are less affectionate, we use terms such as Ελληναράς or Καραγκιόζης). Back in the 1990s, the actor and playwright Lakis Lazopoulos created the television series called Δέκα μικροί Μήτσοι, presenting a range of such typical Greek characters in their most lovable moments.
I was the first one to introduce the character of Mitsos as someone at the Greek border responsible for the creation of Greek terms to replace foreign terms trying to enter the country and the language. (At inception, he was supposed to tackle proper names only and make sure they were transcribed accurately, though not too accurately, and definitely in one way known to all and acceptable by most.) He would be the solution to the rather chaotic situation prevailing at the moment, with various people in the media, the publishing world, sellers of imports and other such “first lines of defence” being the first to attempt the creation of Greek equivalents. Terminological bodies (such as the appropriate unit of the Academy of Athens or the Hellenic Society of Terminology) usually take too long to respond to such infiltrations and, by the time they come up with their own suggestions, other terms may have established themselves.
A case in point is Professor Babiniotis’ mini-crusade to have the Greek term γενόσημα for generic drugs replaced as inappropriate at a number of levels (see a brief presentation here), though the term has been around for many years. One of my own mini-crusades is to have drone transliterated as δρόνος rather than other half-baked ideas, so inadequate that many still prefer to use the English term.
Back to Μήτσος. He is supposed to be there early enough to give a solution based on folk wisdom as well as knowledge of what goes on at various levels. He knows how to use the web to find out how a name is pronounced but will not try to make Greeks pronounce Polish names as if they were Poles. He will know the rules of terminology but will also have the common touch and will not try to impose academic terms on everyday parlance.
So, you see, this Μήτσος is a rare animal, quick to react and very knowledgeable. He will be able to do, early in the development of a term, the job that language takes a few years to achieve, not always successfully, not always decisively.
Theseus
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Thanks, Nickel. Certainly 'The Decalogue of Mitsos', if that is relevant, seemed eminently sensible. See: http://www.oxygono.org/?wp=article&article=5A5D95E8A34DAF2D8A467322FC77E65C. But that is probably a red herring since the author of this article is Δημήτρης Γράτσος.