Frankly, the French don't care if everybody does not adhere to their standards>

Was not the case in the RATP office I went to in some large metro interchange - just walked in the door and went to the literature rack far away from the desk where a young lady was sitting who proceeded to yell - yes yell at me, an obvious tourist "You dare enter and not say Bonjour Madame" - translating what she seemed to be saying in French - castigating me, who for all she knew was a naive tourist who did not know that 'rule'

so I am not sure kerouac what you say is true and I'm not sure of what St Cirq is sure of that it was a joke. More a publicity stunt but not a joke IME.

I allow you to translate better of course clausar. Please allow me to know better how it is perceived by non-Greeks.

NYC, if you have a knee jerk issue consult a doctor. By the way, I'm curious to know just what it is that a NYCFoodSnob has to be a snob about? I can't think of anything NYC is known for in terms of food. The hot dog? Hamburgers?

Or is your handle a joke, a tongue in cheek laugh at your home town and non-existant cuisine of note?

I can't think of anything NYC is known for in terms of food>

I think they may have invited or made popular the automatic things where you put a coin in and open the door and get some treat - something that is widespread in today;'s Amsterdam so maybe New Amsterdam started it?

I can't think of anything NYC is known for in terms of food>>

well your naivety approaches your hubrisL According to Wiki:


Dishes invented in or alleged to have been invented in NYC:

Egg cream
Bloody Mary
Chicken à la King[3]
Delmonico steak
Egg cream
Eggs Benedict
General Tso's chicken
Ice cream cone
Lobster Newburg
Mallomars[4]
Manhattan Special – A type of carbonated espresso drink.
Pasta primavera
Penne alla Vodka
Reuben sandwich
Steak Diane
Vichyssoise
Waldorf salad

I do say the ice cream cone alone is noteworthy - of course none of these probably will meet your epicurean sense of what 'good' food is.

<<I allow you to translate better of course clausar. Please allow me to know better how it is perceived by non-Greeks>>

To use your own words << If you phone someone they will answer with 'horista'. Which means 'what do you want? >>
I was trying to explain to you what it means and how it is being used. I didn't say anything about how it sounds to your ears...

How can this possibly be bad for business? By getting people all over the world to talk about this sign, the owner of this café will undoubtedly have lots of customers who think the sign is cute and want their pictures taken sipping their drinks next to it.

I just love people being rude to each while discussing who else is rude.

Publicity for the sake of publiciy? So encouraging a facade of civility is so rare that is considered the French version of twerking?

Come, come clausar
How dare a Greek living in Athens argue about Greek language and usage with our resident guru?

I suggest that you go immediately to your equivalent of the Academie Francaise and get them to change all social greetings so that they sound agreeable to American ears (the tin variety of course).

To return to our moutons. What a lot of pomposity has been generated by this JOKE!
I read that customers greeted it with a grin and several greeted the owner with exaggerated respect.

I also read that he didn't actually vary his prices because it was a JOKE

<<Oriste or horista (as it sounds to an English language native's ear, can indeed have different meanings. But what it means is 'what do you want', not as a LITERAL translation but in intent. it is an abrupt, one word response.>>

Horista (meaning separate) is pronounced very differently to "oriste" which has several meanings as Clausar has said. I say oriste to mean pardon as in please repeat I didn't hear you, I say oriste if I am giving something to someone, it has many shades of meaning for which there might not be the exact equivalent in English. It is not an abrupt one word response. In a shop where you are buying something they might say oriste when handing you the goods, meaning "here you go". Many languages might sound harsh to the English ear but doesn't mean it is. Russian for instance does not have words as "could" or "would" so can sound harsh. In Greek, parakalo when said after exharisto, means you are welcome, similar to the Russian "pajalusta".

<<There is no real way to spell a greek word in English>> Do you have any Greek friends on Facebook, mine almost always transliterate from Greek to English.