Back to basics!

Its great fun trying to help our villa guests learn some of the basic Cypriot words! Not least, as we don’t know many ourselves and struggle with the speed and intonation of many of the words!

The key words are:

“Yes” – which is Nai, pronounced ne (e as in egg). Guests go for anything from a very horsey, “neeeeeigh” to “N” to “No” – its such a strange word for English speaking people to use when they are used to “no”!

“No” is “ochi” – as in “okey dokey” but with more harsh “CH” in the middle! As it sounds so much like, “okay”, “okay” tends to be what is used by the holidaymakers – but the response is “endaxi” (pronounced “dax”) which is cypriot for “okay”……all very confusing indeed!

Probably the funniest one is “thank you”: “Efharisto”. Not “toe” on the end as in feet – more “to” like in “totem pole”: again, a great and fun challenge. My Mum is the best at this. With an English accent which makes Julie Andrews sound common, Mum cannot accept making the word sound “harsh” , so rounds off the parts of it so it sounds like, “efairystow” – which makes us all laugh! Including her!!

“Chronia Pola” means, “Have a great year; happy birthday; luck ” etc. We wish a HUGE “Chronia Pola” today to our (very old) and gorgeous friend Jane, who celebrates her triande thecka octo birthday today! (No, cannot say what it is coz she’s at the age I’ll be in 6 months time – but , of course, is considerably older than me!).

Whatever the language, Jane, the wish is from us to you with tons and tons of love and wishes to see you again very, very soon.

Efharisto kai yassou!