Armenian Slang & Idioms

[Siamanto]

Gor is actually related to the verb.

Inch gnes? Tas gnem gor.

In fact, you can just say "Tas gnem"...how it was added still remains a mystery....to me at least.

I have met Armenians from Aleppo who used "eh" in lieu of "gor."
For instance, "tas gnem gor" would become "tas gnemeh."

I liken "zar" more to "havanapar".

I believe that "za[a]r" means "maybe," while "havanapar" means "probable/likely." ("havanagan")
Is "za[a]r" Armenian?

I find "havanapar" very euphonic and "noble!"

[Che_Ka]

I thought that "to telephone" is "heratsaynel" in Western Armenian, not "gantchel"!!!

In proper WA, yes.

But I meant in slang -- often we use "gantchel," which I was pointing out is the equivalent of American English slang "to call." And in EA, the slang form would be "zankel," which is the equivalent of the British English slang "to ring."

I think in both EA and WA, the proper verb would be "heratsaynel." That's the word I use when we have guests over.

[Che_Ka]

Zar is Turkish.

One of my favorites though! lol I've got my Amerigahay friends saying it. lol

[Che_Ka]

I have met Armenians from Aleppo who used "eh" in lieu of "gor."
For instance, "tas gnem gor" would become "tas gnemeh."

Hmmm, my entire kertasdan is from Haleb, and I've never heard that! I'll have to ask around.

I still think "gor" is not as *bad* as Armenian teachers make it out to be. lol Sure, you can work around not having "gor," but it makes the language work a whole lot better when you can use it, hence its invention (adoption?) and the fact that it's remained in use.

[Che_Ka]

-

"Ham" meaning taste is Armenian.
"Ham/Hem" meaning both is probably non-Armenian.
The prefix "hama" is the equivalent of the Latin "co/con"

Three different "words!"

Thank you.

Nunechka: I really don't wanna start an argument, but I really resent your insulting insinuation that I have not "read Armenian." Please reconsider your choice of words next time.

[nunechka]

are people in this forum not reading before commenting? the DICTIONARY for ARMENIAN-ENGLISH, my books in ARMENIAN! have the word "HAM" written with 2 meanings... 1st meaning taste, the second meaning, both and...

siamnto you even quote me and you dont read what i wrote?

[Che_Ka]

You're not the only one with a dictionary.

I have 3, and none of them give a defintion of "ham" beyond the taste/flavor definition.

[nunechka]

did you go to school in armenia che_ka?

do you have your books from then?

do you have dictionaries that not only translate from armenian to english but also from armenian to russian and french?

the word does exist... it is as simple as that... menk ayd bare oktagortsum enk ham ays neshanakutsiounov hamel ayn neshanakutiounov...

[Che_Ka]

No, I did not go to school in Armenia. I completed 14 years of Armenian schooling in Los Angeles. Never in those 14 years, in any of my Armenian textbooks, did I encounter the word "ham" to mean anything besides taste.

Yes, I have an Armenian-English dictionary. I also have an Armenian thesaurus. And a regular Armenian dictionary. None of them include under "ham" a defintion other than taste.

Perhaps this is simply a difference between the Eastern and Western Armenian authorities and intellegentsia. My textbooks and dictionaries are all Western, and I think yours are Eastern. Maybe it's not considered an Armenian word for WA, but it has been incorporated into EA dictionaries and is now considered an Armenian word in EA.

I've never heard any of my Armenian tachers use the word. They were always careful not to use foreign words (especially Turkish!!) and not to use "gor." In fact, I remember my elementary Armenian teacher would use "yev" instead of "ham." For instance, "yev khntsor bidi oodem, yev (al) narinch bidi oodem."

Maybe this is the cause of the confusion here.

[nunechka]

apperantly the western armenian teachers here teach incorrect things... for example: i found the poem "Yes Im Anoush Hayastani" in a western armenian book for teaching to students like you, and guess what, the good old "western" armenian teachers decided that Mr. Yeghishe Charenz wrote incorrectly, his own poem, and proceeded to CHANGE his writing, starting at the second verse... (not as popular to most as the first verse)...

here is how Mr. Charenz wrote it (second verse, first line)
"Siroum em mer yerkinke mouk, jrere jinj, liche louse" meaning "I love our dark sky, waters calm, lit lakes"

here is what was taught at your school (second verse, first line)
"Siroum em yes yerkinke mouk, jrere jinj, liche louse" meaning "I love the dark sky, ..."

and its not in just those lines, it is all over the freaggin poem... verse 2 line 3 (Mr. Charenz wrote "anhyourenkal" and the western armenian teachers of los angeles decided that mr. charenz was incorrect and changed it to "en hyourenkal" notice that its not only 'en' and not 'an' but it is seperated... SHAME on you Mr. Charenz, may you turn in your grave because the great western armenian teachers knew better how to write your own poem, then you did...
- ooops found more: verse 2 line 4 - According to Mr. Charenz (as he decided to write the poem he wanted to say and in fact did say "Hnamya" meaning OLD! but of course the very very berry intelligent and oooooo soooooo correct western armenian teachers decided NO! Mr. Charenz SHAME on you! how could you write something so incorrectly, and decided to change it to "hnameay" (go and pronounce that one for a change)...

ohh my GOD the more i read the poem, (which i love dearly with all my heart) the more i get angry! how dare they change our history! how dare they change what a proclaimed, famouse, EDUCATED! BELOVED! POET! WRITER! wrote... ? hmm? how dare they!

Is that what they teach you?

wow! what else have they decided isnt correct? hmmmm... in armenia when we were taught literature, the writing was not changed, if it was an Armenian poet/writer from what is known as western armenia (where I am from), they kept it the way that person wrote it... and if it was written by a poet/writer from eastern armenia (where i went to school), they kept it the way it was written also... I visited the place where Mesrob Mashtots wrote out the letters, and guess what, he had an accent too... we keep THAT (his writings) the way he wrote them...

look... i have wonderful western armenian speaking friends... they teach me words like "yalla" "ishalla" "ka" "be" "babam" "ishte" etc... and i teach them words like "parazit" "lakot" "eeeyaaaa" "skoupoy" "dishovi" "davay" etc... and when they say words in arabic, turkish, etc... i dont care, and i dont jump on them, like you have just prounced on me... i think that because, like that song says "Taparakan Hay enk menk", and we have many words in our daily dialect that we have integrated from so many other languages... we are people who dont speak just one language, on a minimum, armenians speak 2 (that is MINIMUM)... soooo, i love saying "yalla be" and "davay davay"... i think that it comes with the territory... that would be the "taparakan" part...

this is what my experience has been... i meet a new person (beruitsi), they say so softy "parev" i say "barev", and they look at me funny... but notice i dont care what their accent is... because i've heard soooo many other accents in armenia that this particular one is just another accent to me... but to THEM! its like i said something totally and completely alien... and so many times they wouldnt understand me (and of course they went to armenian school here)... but how could they not understand me? i understood them PERFECTLY! ALL THE TIME...

i never cared about any particular word, the missing sounds, etc... but beirutsis do... every one of them has attacked me for saying "KAPIK" in stead of "GABIG"... but when they said it, i understand what it means and hey thats all i need for the conversation... but not them... they were bewildered, etc... all of them and now you...

i have also noticed major cultural differences but i am only going to point out one... armenians from armenia dont find it necessary to overclaim their armenianness... but armenians from beruit do... not the persian armenians, JUST the beruitsi armenians... and that may also be attributed to the "taparakan" problem...

yalla be, ka inch g'khosis! g'baveh!
or
de lav, inch es eskan khosoum, herika!

i love them both, but i know for a fact that HAM! is a word and it has two meanings... just like the word "ser" and "ser" - "love" and "the skin off the top of milk, etc.."