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Frank Zappa Valley Girl

Sorry, SBE, I should have made that clear but Zappa's song popularised Valley Speak in the UK & elsewhere, as well as the high rising terminal, which is still extant. But Moon Unit Zappa's monologue gave Valley Speak much wider circulation &, in my opinion, it is arguable that the Valley Speak sociolect owes owes its influence on American, & hence, UK speech to Zappa's lyrics. I just wondered if such a style of speech influenced Greek speech at all. Can the song possibly be easily translatable into Greek?
 

daeman

Administrator
Staff member
... Can the song possibly be easily translatable into Greek?

Not easily, Theseus, because the words and expressions the late great Zappa used were characteristic of Valleyspeak. There are similar examples of, like, teenspeak and, like, trendy talk in Greek, but to find a specific equivalent for everything used in the lyrics would be sooo very difficult, a feat, in fact —if it can be done at all, like. It would be, like, almost like trying to translate Cockney rhyming slang or the Jamaican patois to another language; the words would be there but the actual meaning and intonation would be lost without lots and lots of explanatory notes. It might be done through transcreation, conveying the general spirit of the original, not translation as such.

Γλωσσάρι ακατάλληλο για ενηλίκους


And long time no see, sooo glad you're back! :-)
 

drsiebenmal

HandyMod
Staff member
Welcome back, Theseus!

On your question, no, I don't think I have ever heard of any such influence in the Greek language - or from any other big foreign language hit because the most successful of them are rarely covered in Greek (and those that are, are very loosely translated, to accommodate for bigger Greek words and sentences). Sure, there have been words and phrases (and mock-ups, like «Θα τη σφάξω» for Satisfaction) that entered the language, but no wider influence. At least that I know of.
 
Thanks to all! I know that teenagers often use λέμε or μιλάμε for 'like' but such fillers are an integral part of language. I love your parody of teenspeak, daeman. It's sooo totally, omg, bitchen....Glad to be back. My health has survived various health scares & I have a hip op coming up on August 15th,
 
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