Ξύρες(?)

[Theseus]

Something has been bothering me for a long time that happened the first time I went to Greece with a school party. It happened in Athens when we were crossing a busy road. I was so occupied with getting the pupils across that I bumped into a woman and said συγνώμη. As far as I remember what happened, she glowered at me and seemed to brush her hand down her cheek and said ‘ξύρες’ I presume this gesture had some meaning and was only reminded of it when we learnt the everyday routines of people and ξυρίζομαι came up as a word. Is ξύρες connected and is this gesture used today and what exactly does it mean? This incident occurred more than twenty years ago and I only had a very basic knowledge of Greek then.

 

[nickel]

I don't think she said 'ξύρες'. She most probably said 'ξούρες', and this, even according to the dictionary, is accompanied by a gesture down the cheek. From the Katos dictionary:

ξούρα, η, ουσ. [<ξουρίζω]. 1. το ξύρισμα: «κόπηκα στην ξούρα || άλα, ξούρες!». 2. (ειρωνικά) το ψέμα, η ανακρίβεια και συνήθ. στον πλ. οι ξούρες, τα ψέματα, οι ανακρίβειες: «μην τον πιστεύεις, γιατί συνέχεια μας λέει ξούρες». Συνήθως συνοδεύεται από τη χαρακτηριστική χειρονομία η οποία μιμείται τις κινήσεις του ξυρίσματος με τα δάχτυλα του χεριού τεντωμένα και κολλημένα μεταξύ τους και με την ανάστροφή της παλάμης να κινείται πάνω κάτω στο μάγουλο και κοφτά προς το σαγόνι·​

 

[Theseus]

Thanks so much, Nickel! It seems that the form ξουρίζω and ξυρίζω mean the same. Long-standing niggle sorted at last! Is the gesture used much nowadays?

 

[nickel]

Is the gesture used much nowadays?

Neither the term nor the gesture for it. And if you go to Crete, you get the impression young people no longer shave in any case.

 

[cougr]

I accidentally bumped into a young lady on a pedestrian crossing & said 'συγγνώμη'. She brushed her right cheek with her fingers & said ξούρες. According to Alexandra Fiada, the gesture meanings 'you're lying'.

Deja vu anyone? Some 10 years later your query gets answered. Better late than never, I suppose.

Thread 'I f*** a barrel of saints with Christ as a lid'

Aug 5, 2016

Alexandra Fiada in her Xenophobe's guide to the Greeks says that γαμώ is used for 'swearing in earnest with family or religious terms'. She makes out that the imperative is used in all contexts i.e. 'F*** the Holy oil lamp' but I have encountered it usually as 'I f*** your mother/father/entire clan &c', more commonly, to avoid a direct insult, leading to blows, it's been I f*** my mother/father&c. But in parenthesis she says 'the prize should go to an old sailor who used to say 'f*** a barrel of saints with Christ as a lid'. Would the best Greek way of saying this be 'γαμώ ένα βαρέλι...

• Theseus
• Replies: 5
• Forum: English–Greek queries

 

[cougr]

Some 10 years later your query gets answered.

I just realised, back then it wasn't posed as a query.

 

[Theseus]

In the words of the bard but here applied to me ‘to dumb forgetfulness a prey’. Thanks, cougr!