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From: HPala39820@aol.com
Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2001
Subject: Tortured turx
To: billsimons@yahoo.com

I found this amazing, but not always accurate site quite by chance. I was looking for something else. But, anyway if it is still active I would like to contribute a little bit:
By the way, let me introduce myself:
I was born in Turkey [a loooooong time ago] I have moved to Great Britain, where I still live and work as a translator [have a wild guess: Turkish to English] in the last 17 years or so.

I like the lightweight sense of humour the site has.
Let me give you a couple of linguistic pearls as we say:
Some modern names:
Ufuk: Horizon
Shafak: Dawn
Hurshit.
Akshit,
Murshit
If you say I am sick, a Turk may think that you are a prick
If you say I seek you: It will certainly be regarded : I f... you
If you hesitate or wander, please do not say; Ammmm. amm, coz they will think
you are looking for a vag... or you are one.
More later,
regards
Hikmet
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"Scott Graham" Scott.Graham@aretech-is.com writes:

For the Tortured Turkish Section I offer:

"SINOP" = Soldiers In Need Of P*ssy.

"Sic Dela get" = If I recall correctly get the F*** out of here.

"Esek" = Donkey (Anyone recall the stories about Sam the Donkey?)
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From: "Ron and Sue Hermiller" <disco1@orwell.net>
Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 18:18:51 -0700

Loved and laughed at the tortured turk comments. But, the word "pom pom" (how we pronounced it) was the word I never used in front of Turks. Tried to find my little Turkish/English "bible" as I called it. Mine was a yellow/mustard color instead of green.
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Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 19:59:57 -0800
From: Ron Knief <ronknief@mediaone.net>
Subject: Another Jannisary definition

Khirr-ed-Din and his older brother Aruj came from warrior stock. Their father, Ya'kub, was a retired janissary of Creek extraction who had been given land on the island of Lesbos by the Ottoman Turks in 1462. Janissaries, from the Creek word Yeni Ceri or, "New Soldiers," were shock troops feared by all Christians. They began as boys taken forcibly from their parents, as an annual blood tribute that the sultan received from his non-Muslim subjects. Raised in the Muslim religion, the boys became either warriors or civil or ecclesiastic servants. Those designated for the military were put in celibate military camps, where they stayed until they were killed or retired. Janissaries had two loyalties, the Sultan and Islam. Ya'kub survived, was rewarded with land on Lesbos and married
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Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2001 21:36:55 -0600
From: Mike Dick <ymihere@iland.net>
Subject: Tortured Turkish

This probably doesn't really fit into this category, but I remember that SINOP actually stood for "Sex Is Not Our Policy!"

Mike Dick
71-72, USAF
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Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2001
From: Steve Howard howpix@usa.net
Subject: A Couple of Phrases

..... I was in Sinop in '66. One of my favorite TV shows at the time was "Get Smart". On a whim I asked the kitchen assistant, Moose, to translate two phrases from the show that I said in English all the time. He conspired with the head waiter and they came up with phrases I committed to memory. Here they are with their Turkish translations. BTW, I know nothing about what words were involved so my "translation" is one long phonetic word.

"Sorry about that, Chief." - "Ah-noo-nee'-chee-nuh-zoor-delairum, chef"

"Would you believe?" - "In-ah-near'-mah-soom?"
......
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From: Dave Robertson <robertson@stic.net>
Subject: t. Turkish
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2000

Offendum: friend
Nassil siniz: how are you.
Eee im: I am good
Ssiz Massil siniz : and how are you
Tshet kuraduram: thank you
Cosh Lira: how much
Guzel: beautiful
KBOC RADIO: ON SITE RADIO in sinop, boc means shit,
so KBOC radio + K shit.. :>
Ek Mek = bread (6 cents per loaf)
Akadash = close friend, really close.
Yoke obbe = No, my friend, or No Way?
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Subject: Origin of the word "Yeni."
Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 20:03:38 -0700
From: Ron Knief

You are probably already aware of this but if you weren't it might be something interesting for the Sinop site. I copied the entire article from the Encarta Encyclopedia.
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Janissaries (Turkish yeniceri,"recruit"), standing Ottoman Turkish army, organized by Murad I. Ottoman armies had previously been composed of Turkmen tribal levies, who were loyal to their clan leaders, but as the Ottoman polity acquired the characteristics of a state, it became necessary to have paid troops loyal only to the sultan. Next, the system of impressing Christian youths (devshirme) was instituted; converted to Islam and given the finest training, they became the elite of the army.
Special laws regulated their daily life, cutting them off from civil society; they were even forbidden to marry. Devotion to such discipline made the Janissaries the scourge of Europe. These standards, however, changed with time; recruitment became lax (Muslims were admitted, too), and because of the privileges Janissaries enjoyed, their numbers swelled from about 20,000 in 1574 to some 135,000 in 1826. To supplement their salaries, the Janissaries began to pursue various trades and established strong links with civil society, thus undermining their loyalty to the ruler. In time they became kingmakers and the allies of conservative forces, opposing all reform and refusing to allow the army to be modernized.

Their failure to crush the Greek insurrection in the early 1820s totally discredited them and encouraged Sultan Mahmud II to plan their elimination. When they revolted in 1826, he dissolved the corps by proclamation, putting all opposition down by force. Thousands were killed and others banished, but most were simply absorbed into the general population.

Contributed By: Feroze Ahmad "Janissaries," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved
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From: rich uttke uttke@itis.com
Date: Friday, October 01, 1999
Subject: More Tortured Turkish

I find something good on your page every time I visit.
I was checking out Mike Fletcher's missive in "Tortured Turkish" and came across "Dolmus - the small buses". Now I remember "dolmus" as pig so I looked it up in my trusty dictionary.

Mike's "dolmus" is there. It says "shared taxi". Then I found "domuz" which is a "pig or swine". "Bus" is translated to the Turkish "otobus".

P.S. I think the Role Call list would be great! Anything I can do to help?
Regards,

Rich Uttke,>Madison, Wiscosnin
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Date: Thu, 07 Oct 1999
From: "m. edwards" Reiver@altinet.net
Subject: Sinop 88

Re Tortured Turkish
I remember that "four" was "dirt". "Eighty" was "sexxon". So "eighty-four" was "sexxon-dirt". My profound contribution.
Mike Edwards
(Charter member of The Infidel Express) Sinop 1988
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From: "rich uttke" uttke@itis.com
To: <mfletcher@celtic.com>
Subject: Tortured Turkish
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999

Mike - when I read your contribution to the Tortured Turkish section of
Bill Simons' Sinop web site, I had a good chuckle. Then I said to myself
"No way!" There can't be two Turkish words that make THAT much sense,
to an American, without translation. So I got out my trusty Turk/Eng dictionary
and sure enough, I found "pis" means filthy and "fukara" means poor.
Amazing!

Rich Uttke
Madison WI
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Date: Fri, 3 Sep 1999
From: "Michael Fletcher" mfletcher@celtic.com
Subject: More Turkish phrases

Probably no maids in Sinop, but it's hard to keep a straight face when a maid points to the floor and says "choke piss!" which means very dirty, or "choke fucka!" meaning very poor and that she is asking for a raise.

Ne Habir Bebek means "what's happening baby."
Then there is the response to a departure of "Gule Gule."
Hava Yolari meant Air Force
Chabuk, Chabuk - faster, faster (never to be said to a taxi driver).
Chai - Tea
Ayran - half yogurt/half water, tastes like butter milk.
Velet - brat, as in shoeshine boys.
THY - Turkish Halari Yokul airlines (They Hate You airlines).
Dolmus - the small buses.
Rakkir - the national liquor (pronounced Rakki).
Mashalla! - What wonders God has made! (on the front of every Dolmus
and bus as they blindly pass against oncoming traffic).
Nekkidar - How much?

I spent 2 1/2 years in Izmir (1989 - 1992), adopted two children there, drove all over Turkey, including Sinop and Trabzon, and would love to go back for a lengthy vacation.

Michael Fletcher
Norcross, GA
265th RRC, Camp Eagle
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From: "Jimmy D Carter" <jmeljn@bellsouth.net>
Subject: Re your Sinop site...saying "good bye" in tortured Turkish.......
Date: Fri, 3 Sep 1999

Let me add my two cents (two years worth, Ankara 57-59) to "tortured Turkish"....several of us ol' hands use this sign-off via e-mail to this day
.........."I lost my little dick"......the reply, of course, is gule-gule. The Turks never caught on, just thought we had a strange accent........hee-hee........also, re tortured Turkish, our interpreter, Smokey-Bey, always called us "gow-wer", which meant "heathen". Of course he delighted in telling everyone that Carter (Kartir) meant "shit of the camel" in Turkish!! I miss that ol' bastard....really!!

Take care guys. --------Jimbo
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Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 10:39:03 -0700
From: "Bill Zeilinger (home)" artybill@thosedesigners.com
Subject: Tortured Turkish

I spent 5 years in Turkey - My Dad worked for the Tumpane Company (a civilian contractor) with the USAF. We spent 1958-59 at Incirlik in Adana, 1960-61 in Ankara with JUSMAT (US Army) and 1962-63 in Istanbul (TUSLOG). I was 9 - 14 years old (a dependent child).
Here are a few more words and phrases:

Yavash yavash (slow down)

Biraz ( a little bit)

Bilimurum (I don't know)
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On March 30, 1999, Cindy Polgar mentioned in an Email :

"...........I had many Turkish friends. They gave us the routine about going downtown in pairs and not saying "peach" and not showing the soles of our shoes, Etc. but I didn't care! I loved the place and the people......
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Rich Uttke wrote to Cindy Polgar :

"Cindy, Great new stuff. I had completely forgotten the word "peach". The last time I heard it was from a co-worker at the Wisconsin department of Veterans Affairs here in Madison. He was in the Air Force in Turkey and practiced his Turkish swear words whenever we passed in the hall. I believe "peach" (who knows how it is really spelled) means bastard. I gotta get a Turkish/English dictionary. "
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Rich wrote to Cindy:
"I bought that dictionary (via the web no less). I was correct, for a change - the Turkish word is pic (the letter c has a small beard hanging below it) and it does indeed mean bastard. The dictionary says the "c" with the beard (Ç) has the sound of "ch" as in the word chip.
I'm sending a copy of this to Bill so he knows about the dictionary. Maybe there are other folks out there in cyberland who just gotta find out what that almost- remembered word means."
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Bill Simons recalled that:

Many of us at Det. #4 had a small American - Turkish dictionary that we used, to try and communicate with the houseboys and local townspeople. If I remember correctly, mine measured about 3 X 4 inches and had a dark green paper cover. I don't recall whether we purchased them in the PX or if they were Army issue. In the course of events, the ASA people at Det. #4 managed to mold the Turkish language into their own type of Army-speak just as we did with our American language at home.
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Allahaishmarlidik - This is the Turkish word for "Goodbye" or "Farewell ".

Asker - meant soldier.

Askeri - meant military.

Choke fenah - "Choke" in Turkish means "very" and fenah means "bad", thus "Choke fenah" ="very bad".

Choke Iyi - The Turkish word for good sounds like "eee", thus "Choke Eee" = "very good".

Iki bachuk - "Icky" means "two" and "ba chook" means one half, thus "Icky bachuk" was the name applied to the Army's two and a half ton trucks which were our major means of transport and supply in Turkey. They were usually referred to as "deuce and a halfs" in the military.

Merhaba Agabey - The Turkish word "Merhaba", pronounced by us as "Meer haba" means "Good Day" or "How are you?". "Agabey", pronounced by us as "Agg bee" means "colleague", "senior" or "elder brother" thus "Merhaba Agaby" came to be our major greeting to each other in Turkish.

Yeni - The Turkish word for "new" is Yeni. For us, the word Yeni became a noun and was applied to all the newly arrived personnel on the Hill. These "Yenis" were required to do round the clock guard duty (four hours on, four hours off) until a new arrival came on base to relieve them of this onerous duty.
______________________________________________________________________________
These are about all the Turkish words that I remember using on the Hill. If there are others that you recall, please send them along to me via Email and I'll be pleased to add them to the list.

E-mail to - "billsimons@tuslogdet4.com""

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