Animal Noises Translated

Today I was thinking about children’s toys. Do you remember that one where you pull the handle and an arrow spins around in a circle, in the circle are a bunch of animals and when the arrow lands on one it makes the animal noise for that animal? I don’t remember what it was called, a Speak and Say or something like that? Anyway I had one of these as a kid and I loved it. 

But then I got to thinking….what’s the Greek one like?

Yes even though it's clear that animals within the same species speak the same language, us humans have taken it upon ourselves to butt in and mess everything up with our own culturally specific interpretations. In other words: animals in Canada speak English while animals in Greece speak Greek. There are a few exceptions where an animal noise is the same in both of our countries....but I'm sure if you ask a Greek they'll tell you that's because that animal noise originated in Greece and we stole it from them... 

Now I don’t even know if this toy exists in Greece but if it did, it would sound like this:

Cat: Niaou-niaou

Dog: Guv-guv

Bird: this depends on the size of the bird, a small one: tsiou tsiou; a big one: kra kra

Rooster: Kikiriku (get a Greek person to make this noise…it’ll make your day)

Cow: Moo (yay, we agree on this one!! But I guess this means "moo" isn't technically an English word???)

Horse: they don’t imitate the horse apparently…yeah I’m skeptical too so I’m still looking into it

Sheep: Mae-eee

Pig: I couldn't get a straight answer about this one either but that might be because they were thrown by my oinking....

Frog: Quak-quak (I’m serious)

Duck: Pa-pa-pa

Turkey: Glou-glou

So apparently Greek cows can carry on conversation with English speaking cows no problem, and Greek frogs can chat up Canadian ducks....

I know. 

This is important stuff. 

You're welcome.

But before we go ahead and roll our eyes at how weird the Greeks are, remember that we think a rooster says "cock-a-doodle-doo"......

Antonis took Eleni for a walk the other morning so I could get some things done around the house. 

So after 30 minutes of completely uninterrupted house cleaning

...which was bliss by the way...

Eleni brought me this

The most beautiful flower I've ever gotten!

I also made pizza buns this week

Both my taste testers approved so they'll be making a regular appearance in the Mallis house

Here's the recipe:

http://www.eat-yourself-skinny.com/2013/10/veggie-pizza-rolls.html

But I made my own pizza dough, it's a recipe I use all the time and it always turns out light and fluffy and perfect.

Here's that recipe:

http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2010/08/make-your-own-pizza-dough-recipe.html

I put feta cheese, peppers, onions, olives, tomatoes and shredded zucchini inside. 

So yummy!

They're perfect for little ones because it's all contained in a bun which makes it easy to hold and less messy.

And Eleni loved dipping them into the pizza sauce...but of course, that's when things got messy.

This is before the dipping extravaganza...obviously

Wednesday night I went out with these losers.

Yes. They are ALL on their stupid fancy phones.

And yes, someone did message someone else from across the table 

because this is a highly amusing joke in this day and age.

I'm not hip with the times. 

I don't even have a cell phone. 

So I proceeded to drink a ridiculous amount of red wine.

I may need some teeth whitening after this

...or possibly an iPhone