What's the Greek for 'a bugger's muddle'?

There's complex, there's convoluted, there's chaos - and then there's Greek politics!  Lest you doubt me - how could you? - there is a sort of interesting article in Der Spiegel which seeks to explain the intracacies.  I qualify my praise somewhat because reading it is rather like reading alphabet soup.  No fault of the writer, but Greek politics are in a mess, with the main parties discredited and their support plummeting and the ways wide open for invasion by the inchoate loonies from Left and Right.  The election is due in April, although some say May, but judging by this analysis the Greek parliament is going to end up as a shambolic shouting match, almost like a football stadium in which the fans are supporting at least half a dozen different teams!   Spiegel reports that a leader, Mr. Tsipras, of one of the Left-wing parties: 

wants "Greece to remain a systemic problem for Europe." He argues that this is the only way to ensure that the billions from the bailout packages are actually disbursed, and the only way to ensure that Europe, fearing the risk of contagion that would emanate from a Greek bankruptcy, will defer Greece's debts, or perhaps even forgive them one day. This is what Tsipras is betting on. It's a crude, extortionist way of thinking.

That should go down like a ten week-old, dead skunk in Brussels, and someone will need to pluck up the courage to give 'dear Angela' mouth-to-mouth resuscitation - any volunteers?  At the other end of the spectrum (you know, where Left and Right tend to hold hands!) you have a party calling itself The Golden Dawn and you really don't need to be a student of politics to guess the sort of thing they believe in:

The Golden Dawn fascists preach the "superiority of the white race and the Greek nation."

Well, the Greeks are supposed to have invented politics so perhaps they know what they are doing and where they are going but from here it looks like all roads lead to hell!

 

Comments

[Whyaxye]

"...you have a party calling itself The Golden Dawn and you really don't need to be a student of politics to guess the sort of thing they believe in"

My guess is urolagnia, or possibly cheap Chinese food.

[Whyaxye]

"Well, the Greeks are supposed to have invented politics so perhaps they know what they are doing..."

False assumption, DD. We invented football and railways, and look at us.

[David Duff]

That's what I like about this blog, it's an education, er, not for you but for me - I had to look up "urolagnia" in my OED!

Don't mention the F-word, 'W', I have just given up watching Chelsea losing 3-1 to Naploli!

[dearieme]

Wot I say is, if Greece was the first place to take up Democracy, it was equally the first place to give up Democracy.

[David Duff]

Well they sure as hell don't seem to have much of it at the moment!

[B]

Google Translate renders "a bugger's muddle" as "σύγχυση μιας γαμώ το". When you reverse the process, it comes back as "confusion of a fuck".

[David Duff]

Thank you, 'B', I think on the whole I prefer the reverse translation!

[Andra]

Μέχρι σου, φίλε

[David Duff]

I dare not look that one up on Google. Any chance of a translation, Andra?

[Andra]

Certainly.
It's a quaint old Aussie expression ... means something along the lines of "Up yours, mate."
Handy in very many circumstances.
Σας ευχαριστώ πολύ για την οποία ζητεί
I don't get much chance to use my Greek nowadays, especially since I've taken up Chinese.

[David Duff]

Do you ever get confused?

[JK]

Usually... I have trouble adding anything to these sorts of post subjects however (yes of course I stole it - h/t hbd chick):

"Well, the Greeks are supposed to have invented politics so perhaps they know what they are doing..."

Guess what else the Greeks invented David:

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=chaos

[David Duff]

I say, JK, I'm seriously impressed with your learning!