Beware Of Greeks Bearing Confusion

The world has been very hard on Greece recently for its Financial Crisis. It seems like everyone knew how to fix it except the person who was proposing how to fix it.

An agreement was recently reached to resolve the Financial Crisis...again. We all wish the Greeks luck but they may need more than luck.

The Smartfella, in my capacity as advisor to the world, am of the opinion that a major reason why the Greeks have been having so much difficulty resolving this seemingly never ending crisis is the confusion that is engrained in the very fabric of their society because of the names that they have chosen to call themselves.

Here is a sampling of everyday Greek names, Papageorgiou, Mavromoustafakis, Papadopoulos, Georgiades, Petropoulos, Sotiropoulos, Georgiadis, Panagopoulos, Stavropoulos, Georgopoulos, Stathopoulos & Gianopoulos.

I don’t want to be contentious but I contend it is not possible to read through the above name list & not become confused. You find yourself confused & you are just reading a silly blog posting. The poor Greeks are faced with this verbal assault every day!

It could be worse. In his comedy Assemblywomen (c. 392 BC) Aristophanes coined the 173-letter word λοπαδο­τεμαχο­σελαχο­γαλεο­κρανιο­λειψανο­δριμ­υπο­τριμματο­σιλφιο­καραβο­μελιτο­κατακεχυ­μενο­κιχλ­επι­κοσσυφο­φαττο­περιστερ­αλεκτρυον­οπτο­κεφαλλιο­κιγκλο­πελειο­λαγῳο­σιραιο­βαφη­τραγανο­πτερύγων.

This was a fictional food dish consisting of a combination of fish, poultry and other meat. It is cited as the longest ancient Greek word ever written.

Another comedy writer of some note, Shakespeare, just entered my blogging room looked over my shoulder & asked a very pertinent question, “Would λοπαδο­τεμαχο­σελαχο­γαλεο­κρανιο­λειψανο­δριμ­υπο­τριμματο­σιλφιο­καραβο­μελιτο­κατακεχυ­μενο­κιχλ­επι­κοσσυφο­φαττο­περιστερ­αλεκτρυον­οπτο­κεφαλλιο­κιγκλο­πελειο­λαγῳο­σιραιο­βαφη­τραγανο­πτερύγων by any other name taste as sweet?”

Would I kid u?

Smartfella