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ΑΠΟ ΤΟΥΣ ΚΑΘ᾽ ΗΜΑΣ ΑΝΤΙΠΟΔΕΣ
Ἁπό τους καθ᾽ημάς Αντίποδες,᾽ the title of Greek Australian academic Dr Christos Fifis’ latest publication, is a particularly apt one. Bearing connotations of appropriation (Asia Minor was referred to...
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GEORGE DEVINE TRELOAR
Say the word Treloar to a Greek who has never heard of him, and the connotation is immediate - in the accusative, Τρελό means crazy. Similarly, the refugee village named after him in Thrace, also...
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MAPKETA
The old man stood as if transfixed in front of the refrigerator. Clad in ragged blue tracksuit pants that held upon them a suspicion of freshly turned garden soil, a striped shirt and bedecked in...
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ΦΙΛΛΕΛΗΝ
I have in my collection, a silver coin of Phraates IV of Parthia, the successor state to the Persian Empire. On that coin, his title, the very Persian "Shahanshah" that is, "King of Kings," is...
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RIKA AND THE BANK IN THE SKY
It is not often that one gets to behold their idols in the flesh. Greek journalist and media personality Rika Vagianni entered my pantheon when, at an early age, I saw her play the young neglected wife...
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ΤΟΥ ΚΟΥΤΑΛΙΟΥ
The inner city terrace houses of my youth were constantly wreathed in darkness. In winter, their denizens would sit out the cold and darkness in woolen jumpers, their unheated living rooms illuminated...
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THE ROAST OF TSOUKALAS
In the "Prophecy" (Προφτητικόν) section of his famous poem of fall and renewal, the Dodecalogue of the Gypsy, (ΟΔωδεκάλογοςτουΓύφτου), Kostis Palamas, prophesied that the renaissance of the Greek...
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THE TURN OF THE SEASON IN NORTHERN EPIRUS
It was as cold as was necessary to remove the expression: “cuts like a knife” from the realms of the cliché. Among the inhabitants of the stone town of Argyrokastro, it was referred to as...
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KANNABOYPI
“Θέλει η ζωή μας αλλαγές και ας τσαντίζονται πολλέςδεν δίνω φράγκο κάθε μια τι θα μου σούρεικαι το πουλί για να τραφεί πρέπει ν’ αλλάζει τη τροφήκι όχι σκέτο κανναβούρι κανναβούρι.” My first...
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HIDDEN MOSAICS: AN AEGEAN TALE
I was predisposed not to enjoy the book. In particular, the title, coupled with a pixelated Turkish-flag bedraped coastline looming over a fragmented Greek-flag covered shore tended to suggest to me...
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VALE HARALAMBOS FAKOS
"Ainte," my late great-grandmother would encourage me from time to time. "Get married and I will bring Lalo Fako to play clarinet at your wedding." Yiayia, though present in this country since 1963,...
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TURNBULL, THUCYDIDES AND ORIENTALISM
“The strong do what they have to do and the weak accept what they have to accept.” ThucydidesOur august Prime Minister, while on a visit to the planetarch, snuck in a reference to classical Greek...
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GLOSSOLALIA
Yianni is five years old. He was born in Greece and has been living in Australia for three years. His parents, who left Australia at a young age, have no support network in this country and during the...
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WITH THE THOUSAND IN AGRAFA
The newly arrived lady from Greece parted her fleshy lips in a smile, treating me to a display of milk white teeth so well-proportioned as to rival the columns of the Parthenon itself. As she continued...
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CHEKHOV GOES TO GREEK SCHOOL
These days, I am compiling a list of illustrious alumni of Greek language schools, in the hope that their celebrity will lend impetus to a drive for local enrollment. Sadly, the rumours of Justin...
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ΕΛΛΗΝΩΝ ΠΑΙΔΕΙΑ
"Don't speak to your baby in Greek," the mothercraft nurse told us. "She will only get confused and this will slow her down at school."In the usual course of events, I am mild mannered and...
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THE EMBROIDERER
Κόκκινη κλωστή, δεμένη, στην ανέμη τυλιγμένη, δώσ'της κλώτσο να γυρίσει, παραμύθι ν'αρχινίσει..The above traditional saying, when beginning a tale in Greek, signifies the fact that in the Greek...
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GENERAL SECRETARY FOR GREEKS ABHORRED
General Secretary for Greeks Abroad Mihalis Kokkinos is the bearer of an interesting title, for one assumes from his position description that he is our secretary, yet none of us apodimoi have ever...
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SPEAKING ENGLISH TO GREEKS IN MARCH
I try to introduce a new Greek word to my three year old every couple of days. Last Saturday, while buying fruit, the new word for the day was άγουρος, which was directly relevant to our purchase of...
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ΚΥΡΙΑ ΛΙΩΛΙΟΥ
Mάνα μου τα μάνα μου τα κλεφτόπουλα, are the words I hear in my mind, whenever I recall my Greek school days, enunciated by a voice loud, and clear as a bell, each syllable punctuated by a rhythmic...
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