Amenians: A topic inspired by Dorothy

[Dorothy]

Originally Posted by Butterfly

Yeah, I believe so

In Europe, educated people, as a rule, know quite a bit about Armenia, Profs and Docs, perhaps, know more..) but younger generation, students, etc. almost have no idea. Sometimes they recognise it in connection to former USSR(especially in East Germany)..., sometimes they ask me to explain where it is, sometimes they are confused and silent (maybe later they look in encyclopaedia-)), once an English girl(from London) told me frankly: ''I am sorry but I don't know where it is'' and was not interested to know.

Recently, I have been asked: ''Jokes of Radio Erevan- that is Armenia, isn't that?'' ) To tell you truly, here in Germany they are very popular )

Why is this "Armenian Radio" or whatever they call it so popular abroad??? I had a Russian friend who kept telling me stupid anecdotes, ascribing it to the "Armenian Radio" ... Oh well, if it helps people recognize us - so much the better!

[Butterfly]

Dorothy, truly, I don't know why they are so popular!
But the fact is that they really are!!! Here in Germany these anecdotes are not that stupid , which is somehow consoling

About the Albanian girls, that is again TRUE. There is an Albanian girl who attends the same German course as me, and looking at her I am always thinking that her appearance and behaviour (!!) is so much Armenian )) haha..

[Red Stone]

Shnorhakalutiun everybody!

Surprise! I'm still alive!
As a matter of fact, I agree and disagree at the same time with almost everything you said!

I'm going to issue some posts about all this.

First of all the physical characteristics of any national of any country in the world (as they are these days) have nothing to do with climate but with the ethnic (and ethnic blends, some of them gorgeous) origins of the people. And sometimes with standards of life (for instance when height is concerned).

Allow me to get the example of my own country.

Being in Europe, in general our skin is darker than the average of southern Europe. This is due to our traditional ability of not minding the skin colour of our partner in bed and at home. In other words there is a lot of black blood in our veins. The Dutch have a say "God made the world and Dutch made Holland". We add this to that say: "and Portuguese made the 'mulato'!". BTW "mulato" is the common result of sexual relations between a white and a black.

Speaking about standards of life, people being properly feeded grow up (physically) easier than those with lack of regular food. For giving you an example, in the mid 70s with my 1,80 m height I was considered a tall man in my country. Now I'm average.

Lav egheq!

[Red Stone]

Barew again!

Originally Posted by Butterfly

Not at all! In other countries they take you for an Italian/Greek/etc. cause they have little idea about Armenia..

I agree 200 percent! Again I have the very same problem with the knowledge about the existence of my country. Not that I am a typical portuguese (as armenians, brown eyes and brown hair) cause I've blue eyes and black and white hair (now I better say white and black). Some years ago in Paris a french lady defined me as a southern nordic (nordique du sud). When I try to explain that I am Portuguese, people talk to me about Spain (grrrrrrrrrrr)...

Originally Posted by Butterfly

Yeah, I believe so

In Europe, educated people, as a rule, know quite a bit about Armenia

Not so much true, my dear.

In the 70s I happened to meet in London a greek student of History whom I helped (cause no british did due to his bad accent) to find the place where he was going to live while following his studies. This guy had no idea that Portugal existed! And I asked him: "Would you feel happy if I said that I have no idea about what Greece is?" Very proudly, the chap said: "The History speaks for Greece!" I replied: "So it does for Portugal! You just need to study a little bit!"

Not long ago in this forum (in an extinguished section) I stamped as ignorant (in a friendly way, of course) a canadian who didn't know what Yerevan was...

Lav egheq!

[Red Stone]

Originally Posted by PsilocybeLarvae

Ok, let me start.. a typical Armenian has ..
1) dark brown eyes with mandatory incomprehensible sad look in them
2) dark brown/black hair color, among females often times dyed blonde

This is the portrait of a typical portuguese.
About the sad look I'll add my theory about its origins. We managed to gain our independence from Léon (one of the kingdoms that under Castille formed Spain later on) in 1140 (The Pope said yes in 1143), but from then on Europe became a forbidden space for us.

So we were forced to look at the sea. And people who deal permanently with the sea are naturally sad. There are still many places by the sea where the women dress in black, as a sign of mourning for someone who never came back...

Anybody has an idea, about the sadness in the Armenian eyes?

Lav egheq!

[Obelix]

By the way, somebody spoke of recognition. Indeet, in Europe and in the middle east they generally know where Armenia is. On the other hand I was surprised that quite a number of people in turkey didn't know, and those who did generally knew nothing more. I'll be travelling to Istanbul in a week, I'd like to see how the mood is there.

[Gayka]

Originally Posted by Dorothy

Gay, I met an Albanian girl in Greece. You know what she looked like? A typical Brusov student She was the only person who brought an iron with her! I was so much suprized to see her change her clothes every hour... I though it was a purely Armenian habit
Have a look - she's the one with a plastic cup in her hands The girl standing next to me was from Argentina

Dorothy, she's not that bad...the Albanian I mean
(thinking to myself - do I look like a typical Bryusov student? )

[Butterfly]

Barev, Red Stone!

Soo.. You come from Portugal!! Nice to hear!)) Just a little off-topic: how did you occur in an Armenian forum? And where from do you know Armenian words!?

I have a Portuguese friend from Lisbon and he looks VERY much like an Armenian. And it's not only the look, but the temperament, character, .. maybe spirit.. even the humour... You know, not everybody can understand a 'foreign' humour and that is natural. But it happened that he understood our humour and vice versa. When he was in Yerevan, nobody thought he was a foreigner until he spoke Portuguese or English in most cases...

Originally Posted by Red Stone

I agree 200 percent! Again I have the very same problem with the knowledge about the existence of my country. Not that I am a typical portuguese (as armenians, brown eyes and brown hair) cause I've blue eyes and black and white hair (now I better say white and black). Some years ago in Paris a french lady defined me as a southern nordic (nordique du sud). When I try to explain that I am Portuguese, people talk to me about Spain (grrrrrrrrrrr)...

Yes, this kind of ignorance can be rather annoying... But I usually try to take it easy..

Anybody has an idea, about the sadness in the Armenian eyes?

During their long history Armenians have suffered much from foreign invaders, lost the most part of their territory... and this sad look in the eyes is usually explained as a reflection of these sufferings...

Can you imagine to watch the beauty of Ararat from your balcony(window) every day(!!) and realise that it is not yours ...

[PsilocybeLarvae]

Originally Posted by Red Stone

So we were forced to look at the sea. And people who deal permanently with the sea are naturally sad. There are still many places by the sea where the women dress in black, as a sign of mourning for someone who never came back...

mmm..hopefully one day I will buy a small house by the sea in a place like that

[PsilocybeLarvae]

Originally Posted by Obelix

By the way, somebody spoke of recognition. Indeet, in Europe and in the middle east they generally know where Armenia is. On the other hand I was surprised that quite a number of people in turkey didn't know, and those who did generally knew nothing more. I'll be travelling to Istanbul in a week, I'd like to see how the mood is there.

I don't quite imagine how you ask a turk about such a delicate issue
May you have a safe trip

[Obelix]

Originally Posted by PsilocybeLarvae

I don't quite imagine how you ask a turk about such a delicate issue
May you have a safe trip

Well I don't go around turks talking to them about the Genocide

They ask first: whe I am from. The first time I was in turkey I was a bit nervous and told that I am from russia. Now I'm cool with them, and generally it's mostly Azeris who know something about Armenia.

[Red Stone]

Originally Posted by Butterfly

Barev, Red Stone!

Soo.. You come from Portugal!! Nice to hear!)) Just a little off-topic: how did you occur in an Armenian forum? And where from do you know Armenian words!?

Barev, Butterfly!
To the first question I must answer that I've been a very active member of this forum (the first one where I was a member, and the only one I fully enjoyed), in a section that was extinguished in January/February 2003. As part of the disaster I've lost about 1500 posts...
I'm a nostalgic so from time to time I used to take a look at what was going on, while not understanding 99,99 percent of what was said... It happens too that I've never lost contact with Acid whom I consider a close friend.

As to my knowledge of a couple of armenian words, well this is easy. I love when a foreigner tries to speak my language (even with brasilian accent), so I try to please the others in the same way. And the first words we learn of a foreign language are usually the correspondent to "Hello", "Thank you", "Please" and of course some naughty ones... That is what I wished to know (still missing the naughty part... but it's never too late ).
A long time ago when I was a foreign student in a big british bank, in London, I was very dear to two other foreign students (two girls, one Thai the other Serbian) simply because I was the only one around who achieved pronouncing their names correctly! And I swear I made no effort for that. I just paid attention!

Originally Posted by Butterfly

I have a Portuguese friend from Lisbon and he looks VERY much like an Armenian. And it's not only the look, but the temperament, character, .. maybe spirit.. even the humour... You know, not everybody can understand a 'foreign' humour and that is natural. But it happened that he understood our humour and vice versa. When he was in Yerevan, nobody thought he was a foreigner until he spoke Portuguese or English in most cases...

So greetings! You know about Portugal, this "Europe garden planted by the sea"! Now you know someone from Porto (Oporto as the british and spanish say), the city that gave raise to the name of the country (together with a town on the other bank of the river Douro, Gaia, formerly Cale).

Originally Posted by Butterfly

During their long history Armenians have suffered much from foreign invaders, lost the most part of their territory... and this sad look in the eyes is usually explained as a reflection of these sufferings...

Can you imagine to watch the beauty of Ararat from your balcony(window) every day(!!) and realise that it is not yours ...

I feel ashamed and stupid for having put the question... It should be obvious to me... after all we both have reasons but yours is heavier...

Tonight, I'll drink an old Port to the old Armenia!

Kenacd!

[Red Stone]

Originally Posted by PsilocybeLarvae

mmm..hopefully one day I will buy a small house by the sea in a place like that

I would like to do it myself... But I'm affraid I've not enough of that thing with which we buy melons...
I hate the beaches (exception to some nice bodies showing up there ) but I love the sea, especially when it is mad...

Lav egheq!

[Dorothy]

Originally Posted by Gayka

Dorothy, she's not that bad...the Albanian I mean
(thinking to myself - do I look like a typical Bryusov student? )

Gay, uh-huh, quite pretty

Originally Posted by Gayka

(thinking to myself - do I look like a typical Bryusov student? )

Wouldn't say so... You are different and that's good!

[кукарямба]

Actually I think there are a lot of characteristic features typical for Armenians only. I
can't remember all of them right away, but the first thing that has occured to me is
attitude towards one's family. (yes, I know that may not apply to the "character", and
still
I think one rarely sees such attachment to the family.
Yeah, and one more distinguishing feature - tsitsak shoes ! (this one may be ommitted though