A “mangas” went out for a stroll

Mangas (Greek: μάγκας [ˈma(ŋ)ɡas]) is the name of a social group in the counterculture of pre-WWI Greece. Mangas was a label for men belonging to the working class, behaving in a particularly arrogant/presumptuous way, and dressing with a very typical vesture composed of a woolen hat, a jacket (they usually wore only one of its …

Don’t shout these jokes too loud..

I’m intentionally not putting a link to this story because that’s all what this story was intended to do, attract attention. I am referring to the ban of a Greek athlete from the olympic games, based on a joke she made on twitter. I think the punishment did not fit the crime in this case, …

Genuinely Greek

I recently encountered this comment on a traditional Greek song Αυτη ειναι η Ελλαδα, η γνησια, η μπεσαλιδικη, η ντομπρα. Which roughly translates to “This is Greece, genuine, troublesome, candid”. How ironic that the words troublesome (μπεσαλιδικη), is borrowed from the Turkish belalı, and the word candid (ντομπρα) from the Slavic добро, meaning good. Isn’t it time …