Marash Boy's grandmother (Turvant Dakessian Sanjian, born in Marash, fled the genocide and arrived in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1922) used to say (in the Marash Turkish dialect),
Ermeniler getdi, Marash öyle durdu.
Translation:
When the Armenians left Marash, Marash stood still.
She had a very polite way of saying things!
The companion to that is "when sitting around a campfire, the man who stands to adjust the logs is an Armenian."
ReplyDeleteYes, it was the women who set up the campfire and prepared and cooked the shish kebab and pilaf! ( :
DeleteClive Foss told me that story 40+ years ago. The way I understood the telling was that it underscored the pro-active nature of the Armenian and the indolence of the t's
DeleteThe women set up the campfire? How do you know that?
DeleteThat's what happened on the top of Wilbraham Mountain, substitute for the old country for the Marashtsis in Springfield, Massachusetts
DeleteErmeniler gitmeseydi Marash cok daha iyi bir yer olurdu.
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