Talk:Okhi Day

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Aren't the operations on Greek soil during World War II already covered in detail at another site? They shouldn't be covered under the name of a holiday. Shouldn't this entry simply set the holiday in context, with sufficient linking to the fighting that ensued? --Wetman 14:23, 27 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I think that the military and political implications should be summarized in this entry to give significance to the celebration of the holiday- namely the diversion of Axis forces from other military fronts and the ferocity of Greek guerilla fighters in the mountains. Not many nations would celebrate a national leader merely saying "no" to invasion.

I think this article is reeking with sensational, agenda-promoting language ("Thanks to the spirit of heroism that characterized the greek peasants") and contains the sort of historical fallacies that are the product of wishful thinking ("rushed to voluntarily enlist in the army"). Please let an impartial historian edit this page and refrain from adding nationalistic touches. 140.180.133.124 15:51, 28 October 2005 (UTC)

Yes, all history must be sterilized. It is clearly in favor of the Greeks, assuming that refusing to fascist demands and contributing to the Allied cause in the Second World War is a "good" thing. This tone make it IMPOSSIBLE for readers to decide for themselves about this series of historical events.

This article is fine and has good spirit, leave it alone.

As a greek from pindus (the borders that were hit by italy) i would also add that great part in that situation played the 'women of pindus'. I have heard great stories about how that women, despite the extremelly cold of a unicque winter for the country, walked many many kilometres in the dangerous snowy mountains,in order to give to the soldiers not only equipment, but also medic supplies, food, and generally stuff that was extremelly important for their life and oufcourse for their low morrality. Most of these women after and IF they returned to their village allive, were put by relatives with many many clothes in the farm to get warmed by the hot breath of the animals, in order to die peacefully and painless from cold...

Contents

[edit] Ochi or Okhi

The transcription of Greek όχι as Oxi is not standard, see Transliteration of Greek to the Latin Alphabet. Oxi would be read as [oksi'] in English and in most other languages, whereas the real pronunciation is [oçi].

[edit] Ohi

In that case, it has to be OHI. Politis 11:50, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Latin spelling of Greek words has been a recurrent problem in English WP. For the existing standards, see Transliteration of Greek to the Latin alphabet. According to this, only Greeklish has χ -> h. Remember that <χ> is pronounced [x] or [ç] whereas English <h> is pronounced [h]. It would be very desirable to have a uniform tranliteration system for modern Greek at WP (and also for ancient Greek), but it would be hard to get consensus for this. It is important to make redirects from all conceivable spelling variants. See also: Symvoli (check recent history).   Andreas   (T) 14:39, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] about the suggested merge

This article, in its current form, describes the most (but not all) the events around October 28th, 1940. It's a very specific subset of the events of the Italian war, and it deserves its own article. +MATIA 19:13, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

There are individual article for D Day and VE day. The scale is different, but the impact? Ohi/Ochi day deserves its own because it delayed Hitler's invasion of USSR. Greece was standing completely alone and would have been justified to give in. But it decided to unilaterally respect its alliances and refuse an invasion. The 'no' is academic, what matters it the blunt and immediate rejection of any compromise with the Axis. The same morining (28 October, Greeks poured into the streets, irrespective of political preferences and were shouting 'Ochi'. Hence Churchil's 'from now on we will say that heros fight like Greeks' or something like that. The next year, there was a commemoration of 'Ochi Day' in Greek communities. Politis 15:04, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Single word answer.

The assertion that the Italian ultimatum was answered with the single word "No" is a popular myth. Metaxas, was waken up in the middle of the night. He is quoted as having answered in French, which was the language routinely used by diplomats then: "Alors, c'est la guerre" = "So it's war then" following which he gave back the telegram to Grachi.

What's your source for that? --Stlemur 03:29, 21 March 2006 (UTC)
The political history of modern Greece, by Spiros Markezinis (the book that starts with 1935)

[edit] Pronunciation

The standard German pronunciation of /ch/ in "ich" is [ç] (Voiceless palatal fricative). This is what is tought in German courses, and this is exactly how the /χ/ in όχι is pronounced. Different pronunciations, such as [ʃ] (sh as in shoe) are dialect. The scottish "Loch" is a bad example because the pronunciation of /ch/ is [x] (Voiceless velar fricative).   Andreas   (T) 20:27, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

This could run and run!
  1. The article says that ό is pronounced like oh, well my oh rhymes with toe or pro (and o in how I think Americans pronounce Oprah Winfrey) not the o in top or fox (or how an Englishman pronounces opera) – which is I think the Greek way.
  2. And I have heard Greeks pronounce a χ like an h and like a ch in loch or Bach. I am not sure that using only a German example in an English work is a good idea.
Perhaps easier to refer users to (Wiktionary όχι) – and let them bother! — Saltmarsh 07:02, 1 November 2006 (UTC)