In modern Greek, if you want to say something is “fantastic,” “out of this world,” or otherwise “terrific,” you can say den iparchei!, which literally means “It doesn’t exist!” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “It Doesn’t Exist, a Greek Phrase”
Another great bit of Greek slang is feniparchi, which literally means it doesn’t exist.
But you would use that expression to describe something that’s really fantastic, like, oh my God, Lady Gaga’s performance at the Super Bowl. It doesn’t exist.
Oh, it’s so good. It’s only impossible.
Yeah.
Yeah, it’s out of this world.
There’s nothing like it.
But I love that idea of saying that something’s great by saying it doesn’t exist.
It’s kind of like when you say something is unbelievable, right?
And you’re like, it’s there and it’s real, but you still call it unbelievable even though you can’t believe it.
Exactly.
