That’s me as a kid eating karpouzi!
Last week I wrote about Feta burgers and how my family used to BBQ all summer long. Our BBQs weren’t complete without karpouzi—watermelon—at the end of the meal, so this week is all about watermelon!!
Now I may have grown up in a mono-lingual household, only speaking English, but there were a few words that for whatever reason (probably because my mom knew them) we always said in Greek—to the point that it felt more natural to say them in Greek than in English. “Karpouzi” was one of those words. Even when I went off to college, that’s the word I used, and my friends picked it up and used it too—just as I picked up words like “haole” and “okole” from my Hawai’ian friends and learned “hella” from my Bay Area friends. Funny how even when you live in one country your entire life, and even when your friends are American, regionalisms and ethnic identities can influence your language.
Tomorrow I’ll share one of my favorite recipes for karpouzi!
In the meantime, I’d be curious to know if any of you switch in and out between languages or if you’ve picked up words from a language that isn’t your own mother tongue?
Stephanie Nikolopoulos 
steph, enjoyed reading some of your blogs your mom sent
When you were talking about various ways of speaking around the country I have one
Mark is married to Lizzie from CHICAGO..she claims I say MAWK not mark.I WAS so surprised to hear her say that hahahahah
I know isay cawfee but mawk surprised me
Ps I enjoy speaking with your mom soooooooooo much
like old times
you seem to be doing wonderful in your career
GOD BLESS……….helen
That’s a great story, Mrs. Zebro! I hope Mark and the rest of the family are doing well!!