Greek Speakers Unite

Dear Diary:

I speak Greek.

One day, I received in the mail from a linguist friend of mine a T-shirt, bright blue and proclaiming on the front, in Greek, “It’s all Greek to me.”

I lived near the Metropolitan Museum of Art at the time, so I quickly put on the shirt (it was a warm spring day) and decided to go strolling among New York’s cultural elite to see who would take note.

It didn’t take long. Almost immediately I was stopped by a cordial woman who peered at my chest and read out loud, “Eeneh ohla Ellinika ya mehna.”

I wasn’t surprised. This was, after all, New York. But I did think I detected a gentle lilt.

“Where are you from?” I asked.

She smiled warmly.

“Alabama.”

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