David, have you ever been to Europe? You come across as somebody well-traveled.

I've been across the Atlantic twice. Once to England and Ireland, the second time to London and Paris. So not really well traveled, but not untraveled either.

But it's been a while since I've been over there (15 years?) and I'm sure it's all very changed. I'm curious about the effect of the EU and wondering how the economies work.

What the hell is manufactured in Greece anyway? Do they still make Olivetti typewriters in Italy? Is it all tourism and/or agriculture? I know Oracle's big rival is in Germany, but what are the other leading tech companies? I have no idea really.

Part of this is driven by film-history and watching all the French and Italian films of the sixties. (High art, and popular films.) There's just nothing equivalent nowadays.

What the hell is manufactured in Greece anyway?

Cement. Aluminum. Canned peaches (OMG the peaches and cherries are TEH YUM!!!1!). The occasional opera diva.

Tons of marble is quarried, but not a lot of it's exported. Greece is trying to compete with Spain and Italy in the international olive oil and balsamic vinegar world.

One thing they don't make here is babies: 1.1 child per family is the average, thus a declining population. There's been a lot of emigration also, to the US and Australia. Of course, there's been a lot of immigration, from Albania and Africa and Bangladesh, but those folks are not particularly integrated.

What Greece contributes to the world economy is shipping. Greece's merchant marine is huge, and Greek-flagged vessels transport much of the world's cargo. Greek shipping magnates are a class unto themselves, though, and not a lot of that trickles down. Greece Actual's main income is from tourism, which has been radically declining, due to the unbelievable prices, a slight fear of domestic terrorism, and the increasing banalization (is that a word?) of the place. You're likely to find a Starbucks and a TGIFridays even on Mykonos or Santorini, and you get charged a bunch for any crockery you break. (Also, to walk in to TGIF's costs about $10 a person. I'm being literal: there's a cover charge at every restaurant that's in addition to $6 sodas, whatever food, and whatever tip).

I haven't been to Dora Stratou, flea, although I've been to a number of folk dancing performances. I took folk dancing lessons with some friends, but only really learned that each village has their own dances and I would never know enough. That, and that any pun I tried to make on "horos" and "horos" (dance and place) fell flat.

Ahhhh, yes, Greek shipping. I didn't know about the concrete and peaches, though.

There's been a lot of emigration also, to the US and Australia.

Plus within the EU. Many Irish are quite displeased with Eastern Europeans coming in and taking jobs. Although they tended to point to more Slavic ethnic groups than to Greeks.

now I'm curious again about the etymology of various British slang. I know what things like "for a game of soldiers", "you're pulled", and "big girl's blouse" mean, but why do they mean that?

My disctionary of slang is at home, Connie, but my native-user's understanding of these phrases is as follows (other natives, not to mention experts, will doubtless want to disagree in some or all cases, because folk entomology is like that).

"Bugger (or damn, or blow) this for a game of soldiers" means 'give this up because it's pointless', the reference being to a child's game. I think the related phrase "[verb] this for a lark" is probably from lark as a verb, to play around, rather than lark as a noun, a small bird, though either is possible in the context.

"You've pulled" I don't really know the origin of. I guess there might have been a previous useage of 'pulled' to mean 'succeeded', but there might not; almost any word in English means something to do with sex if you want it to. But this review of the new Brewer's Phrase and Fable gives a nice description of its context:

This is part of the lexicon of New Lads, who appeared as the natural constituency of Loaded magazine and its imitators, in which cocky braggadocio took the place of gallantry.

It's almost tempting to link it to 'have the pull on someone', to have power over them.

"Big girl's blouse" is older, and standard sites like World Wide Words agree that its origin is a mystery. I guess it's an over-elaborate (thus teasing and light-hearted) version of the fairly basic man-calling-another-man-a-woman insult, along the lines of 'cunt', 'nancy', etc.

This is how much I'm avoiding reading Locke's Essay on Human Understanding.

This is how much I'm avoiding reading Locke's Essay on Human Understanding

Thank you much, dear. I've always been particularly puzzled by "big girl's blouse" because I tried to analyze and came up with "wrapped around the body of a girl, particularly the bit with the tits--how is that bad?"

You're welcome, Connie. I'm fairly sure it's a "you have the attributes of something feminine" insult-- probably "you're like a girl's blouse" (frilly and lightweight?) comes first. Though your rendering does make grammatical sense.

"big girl's blouse"

It's not a rhyming slang thang?

I'm fairly sure it's not rhyming slang. For one thing, while it might be used anywhere in England now, I think it's a Northerner's phrase originally, rather than Cockney. For another, I've a fair bit of rhyming slang (my great-grandfather is reputed to have spoken it natively and the family is fond of dropping it into conversation) and I've never met it in that context.

ETA: and the use of 'big' at the start of the phrase would be atypical.

OK, so explain "go all pear-shaped" ??

Also, a co-worker just reminded me of the Brit slang "poofter" and I'm wondering if it's from the Greek "pufti" (homosexual, derogatory) or if the etymology is the other way round.