Cyprus-Forum.com

[ukman]

great answers ,thankyou all

[LENA]

Have to say though Lena, "Charlie" really annoys me. My husband laughs when he is called "kalamaras". It actually means they are more educated. His usual response is "2nd generation farmer".

Kalamaras?? He id from Greece?
Well i dont know what that mean but do the same with your husband...we dont mean something bad!! Really!!!!

[villawagen]

actually i was always under the impression that Anglo Cypriots or Cypriots that have been born and raised in England and returned to Cyprus are known as arsenal fans

[the_snake_and_the_crane]

"by FAR the greatest team, the world has ever seen...and its AAAAARS-ENNNN-NNNALLLLL....ARSENAL FC!!!"

[Natty]

It's funny because sometimes us Charlies call each other Charlies sometimes.

I don't mind being called a Charlie, but it's true that you don't really 'fit in' anywhere, in England your British but foreign at the same time, and in Cyprus your Cypriot but English at the same time. We’ve come up with this 'sub-culture' almost, the 'Charlie culture', which I'm quite proud to be part of I must admit...

I believe that Kalamaras actually comes from the fact that, back in the day, the visiting merchants from Greece used to write on slate using kalamari (A pencil type scraping thing not the squid.. ).

[RichardB]

I've heard that the term Kalamaras originated when the educated Greeks (Merchants etc) used the ink from the squid (kalamari) to write with

ps joanna we've also used the term Gringlish or Greeklish for many years, usually it refers to my wifes language when she first goes back to Cyprus after a long spell in the UK or visa versa when she tends to speak a sentance using a mixture of both. My son also used to speak with a mixture of both languages when he wanted to be secretive with his mum when his mates were around.

[GG]

Yeh but the british born cypriots (BBC's) have their own names for the Cypriots too. The men get called Jimmy and the girls Kathy. Jimismenos and Kathisterimeni.

Translated for those that dont understand, thats 'HalfAsleep' and 'BitDelayed'.