Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Old Turk Scares Greek Kid
Detroit, Mi (FN) - Nicholas Myra, better known by his alias St. Nicholas, is facing a lawsuit from an Auburn Hills family of Greek descent who claim that the 1,700-year-old Turkish cleric intentionally traumatized their young daughter.
George and Maria Paraskevopoulos claim that on November 22 they brought their daughter Eleni, 7, to visit Santa at the local Great Lakes Crossing shopping centre. As in past years, the Paraskevopoulos' had coached their daughter to ask Santa for peace in the Cyprus in addition to her personal wish list.
Onlookers report that the notoriously tempermental former bishop flew into a rage at the suggestion.
"You want peace in Cyprus. Well, here's Santa's present for you, little girl. Go tell your stinking Greek friends to get the hell off our island," Myra is alleged to have said.
This is not the first time the Turkish-born cleric's temper has landed him in trouble. In 325 A.D., Myra was jailed for assault after punching out a fellow cleric during the Council of Nicea. In 1968, Myra created an international scandal by telling John John Kennedy to "go ask your mommy's big fat Greek boyfriend for a pony and quit bothering me."
Although Myra has been a citizen of Norway since the fall of Constantinople in 1453, he is well-known for his continued interest in Turkish politics and his disdain for all things Greek. He has long made a point of delivering presents to Orthodox children almost two weeks late, after all the good stuff has been picked over.
posted by Mentok @ 9:25 a.m.,
2 Comments:
-
At 8:17 a.m.,
A. B. Chairiet said...
-
So...Santa Claus hates Greece??
Where's those subtitles when I need them...
(Oh, and Hi, by the way. I'll get to that other place and do that other thing soon)
"Huh?"
Exactly.
~ Ash -
At 10:51 a.m.,
Mentok said...
-
Yes, I guess I should have supplied subtitles...or not published this, since this seems to fall under the category of "stuff that only seems funny to Mentok". Mrs. M was confused about it as well.
Explaining a joke kills it, but here goes:
The real Saint Nicholas aka Santa aka Bishop Nicholas of Myra was born in what is now Turkey. I found this surprising since I always assumed he was from Northern Europe. Turks, as a rule, don't like Greeks, so I thought it would be fun to explore what Santa's prejudices would be like if he were a real, live Turk.
As you will discover if you follow the link, the anecdote about jolly old St. Nick punching a guy out at the Council of Nicea is a true story.
