It’s all Greek to me

It’s all Greek to me, is an expression in English, when something is difficult to understand. Next time when you are about to use it for something you don’t understand, please consider these few facts that I’m going to share it in this article.

In a typical, simple 80,000-word English dictionary, about 5% of the words are directly borrowed from Greek and 25% indirectly. This is because there are many Greek words borrowed in Latin originally, which are then filtered down into English, which borrowed so many words from Latin. Sounds complicated, but is simple. You speak Greek, you just don’t realize it yet. If you check the photo bellow it will all be more understandable.

The research papers claim that the number of the Greek words in English is above 150,000, but the truth is that in every day usage there are between 40, 000 to 50,000 words.

That means every time you speak English, you speak a bit Greek as well. The Greek words are incorporated in many languages internationally. For example the percentage of Greek words in Spanish dictionary is 4.8%.

For the end I’m gonna share with you a very nice song that I discovered on YouTube. The song was a result of the collaboration between Greek singer Elli Paspala and the band Apurimac. They produced the song “Mi ultimo tango en Atenas” where every word has Greek roots. Argentinian composer Daniel Armando got inspired to write this song during his trip to Cuba, where he entered a book store and found a book entitled “17,000 Greek words in the Spanish language.” The song have very catchy tango rhythm (by the way ”rhythm” is also a Greek word ”ρυθμός”). I am challenging all the English speakers to hear the song and try to understand the words.

Was this song ”all Greek to you”, or not really? Feel free to share this blog post on social media so others can also learn what you just did. If you like my posts and you want to support me to continue what I do, please next time when you are about to book your tour or accommodation, do it through my affiliate links. I am affiliate partner with Booking.com and Viator. I attached random destinations on these links, but you can make your own searches, to find your desired tours or destinations. Thanks for support.

Here are ”Mi ultimo tango en Atenas” song lyrics if you wish to sing along: ”Armonia neurotica en el microcosmο de la metropoli cultura narcisista en una monarquia dogmatica simfonia cacofonica, pandemonium en la atmosfera melodia simbolo, melodrama y tragedia. Orgasmo ideologico del barbarismο a la teoria politico dislexico en parodia onirica tirania fantasma, dilema megalomano de un metabolismο retorico sin tesis ni antitesis. Este mi ultimo tango en Atenas tango lloron, que corre por mis venas. (X2) Patriota heroicο, tragicο, sistematico hipocrecia paranoica sin dialogo esotericο teatro ironicο, sindicato plasticο y epicentro de la epidemia, una quimera, una utopia. Energia hyperbole, antidotο democraticο Laberinto critico sin entusiasmo, sin rima musica epidermica en un pentagrama masoquista y la simetria toxica de un epilogo necrologico. Este mi ultimo tango en Atenas tango lloron, que corre por mis venas. (X2) Hay un oasis aromatico, paralelo, fisiologico profeta enigmatico, fenomeno cronico y ortodoxo sin racismos ni extremismos, sin tabues etnicos en lirica extasis sus praxis es el melodico y fantastico antropo”