Tο ψάρι, το κοτόπουλο και η γυναίκα θέλουν χέρι
- Thread starter Theseus
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The saying goes «το ψάρι, το κοτόπουλο και η γυναίκα θέλουν χέρι», i.e. "you should use your hand for fish, chicken and women". It is usually used as a joke, in a familiar environment, in order to urge someone, usually a man, who is reluctant to use their hands to eat fish or chicken, and stick to using their knife and fork, because they are embarrassed to eat with their hands.
An attempt at a definition: "you can't eat fish and chicken unless you grab them with your hand, and you should also use your hands on (your) woman". It is a play with the phrase "βάζω χέρι", which means to grope, to feel up. Not very politically correct, I know :)
@SBE: Τα παϊδάκια, όχι τα παιδάκια! :twit:
Edit: Theseus, what kind of book did you find it in?
An attempt at a definition: "you can't eat fish and chicken unless you grab them with your hand, and you should also use your hands on (your) woman". It is a play with the phrase "βάζω χέρι", which means to grope, to feel up. Not very politically correct, I know :)
@SBE: Τα παϊδάκια, όχι τα παιδάκια! :twit:
Edit: Theseus, what kind of book did you find it in?
Theseus
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In a book given me to read 'It's All Greek to Me' by a certain John Mole, a kind of Bill Bryson writing about the Greeks, the author on page 146 describes a woman cooking fish: 'she sprinkled coarse salt on the top of the iron stove and laid the gopes down for a couple of minutes each side. As the Greek saying goes, 'Fish, chickens and women with the hands.'
Well, this is actually a nice story (of course I've found the book):
Walking past Kyria Sofia's taverna, I saw her through the glass doors and went to wish her good day. Her two children had just come back on the bus from school. The three of them were sitting draped in blankets in the middle of the room around a pot-bellied stove that barely took the chill off the air. She waved me over to sit down with them. On her lap was a loaf of bread, on one side of her a plastic flagon of wine and on the other a basket with gopes, the cheapest and least prized of all the white fish. It was all that her husband had come home with that morning. There were just enough to make a decent meal for them, but there was no question of not sharing. She sprinkled coarse salt on the top of the iron stove and laid the fish down for a couple of minutes each side. As the Greek saying goes, 'Fish, chicken and women with the hands'. We picked the meat off with our fingers and threw the bones into the stove. I can still taste them as I write this twenty-five years later. Hunger is a good sauce and so is hospitality.
Walking past Kyria Sofia's taverna, I saw her through the glass doors and went to wish her good day. Her two children had just come back on the bus from school. The three of them were sitting draped in blankets in the middle of the room around a pot-bellied stove that barely took the chill off the air. She waved me over to sit down with them. On her lap was a loaf of bread, on one side of her a plastic flagon of wine and on the other a basket with gopes, the cheapest and least prized of all the white fish. It was all that her husband had come home with that morning. There were just enough to make a decent meal for them, but there was no question of not sharing. She sprinkled coarse salt on the top of the iron stove and laid the fish down for a couple of minutes each side. As the Greek saying goes, 'Fish, chicken and women with the hands'. We picked the meat off with our fingers and threw the bones into the stove. I can still taste them as I write this twenty-five years later. Hunger is a good sauce and so is hospitality.
