# kapsoura



## Musical Chairs

I read on someone's page that "you know you're Greek" when you know what "kapsoura" is, and you don't know of any translation for it.

Now I'm really curious! I've heard of Greek love-related words like "eros" and "agape" but I haven't heard of "kapsoura." Apparently it's something like "burning desire?" Someone tell me, please.  What does it mean to be "kapsouris" with someone?


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## Leila75

Yes, actually it is related to burning. 

Kapsa = slang word for heat

"Kapsoura" means the feeling of burning of love for someone and it is a sort of slang used by young people mostly when they want to say that they are very much in love.


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## Musical Chairs

Is it really that hard to translate exactly? 

Does it mean to be in love with someone or to have a mad crush on someone? Edit: Though, I think I'm familiar with the feeling you're talking about and it doesn't happen when it's just a crush.


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## Vagabond

I suppose it is to be so madly in love, that you are "burning in the fire of love".  It's that feeling you get at first when you are in love with someone, which is a mix of love, lust, head in clouds, wanting to be with them all the time, etc etc etc...  "Kapsoura" is known not to last forever - it is intense, kind of superficial and short lived, as opposed to the love of an old couple, for instance, which is calmer, but deeper and stable.

But you can always say you are madly in love and avoid the lengthy description.


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## marilou

I think that to understand exactly this word someone has to have a greek lover...kapsoura is not always love, kapsoura in the main times is a mad attraction...excuse me for the bad english... I hope that is help


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## Leila75

marilou said:


> I think that to understand exactly this word someone has to have a greek lover...


 
...or an italian one...!...


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## Musical Chairs

I'm confused. I'd always thought love was a pretty universal thing, and that Greek/Italian lovers wouldn't be any different. But it seems that kapsoura isn't _exactly_ love (it's why it's hard to translate and explain?).

How long does it take for kapsoura to wear out? Does it have to be mutual? Do people like it?


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## Leila75

Well, Greek and Italian lovers (as most mediterranean ones) have a reputation for being expecially hot, dont' they? 


In my opinion the closest translation of "kapsoura" is "to have a crash on someone".


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## marilou

Leila is right. 
Love is AGAPI may be the love for a friend, for a mother, for a husband...KAPSOURA is more the adventure for the summer time!


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## ireney

Kapsoura (kapsourevomai the verb or else epesa sta patomata ) is indeed as Vagabond and the rest say: It's not just  a crush it's more "emphatic" than that. I mean there's EROTAS for the feeling of being in love (as opposed to the calmer feeling of loving someone) and there's the "dagossa ti lamarina " (δάγκωσα τη λαμαρίνα) or mou irthe dovroutzas (μου ήρθε ντοβρουτζάς) for the stars in the eyes head way over the clouds feet walking on air feeling.
Kapsoura, apart from everything else has the added notion of immense yearning (different from last). Head over heels in love or madly in love or anything of the kind are good enough translations though even if they don't translate the "feeling" of "kapsoura" perfectly.


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## marilou

Κάποιο έλληνα θα μπορούσε να το εξιγίσει στα ελληνικά...εγώ πιστέυω οτι οι έλληνες το χρισιμοποιύν όταν θέλουν να δείξουν οτι δεν είναι πραγματικό έρωτας αλλά κάτι πιό έντονο αλλά που τελιόνει γρήγορα...κάνω λάθος?


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## Vagabond

marilou said:


> Κάποιο έλληνα θα μπορούσε να το εξιγίσει στα ελληνικά...εγώ πιστέυω οτι οι έλληνες το χρισιμοποιύν όταν θέλουν να δείξουν οτι δεν είναι πραγματικό έρωτας αλλά κάτι πιό έντονο αλλά που τελιόνει γρήγορα...κάνω λάθος?


Ναι... είναι να χάνεις το μυαλό σου για κάποιον, να τον σκέφτεσαι συνέχεια, να θες να είσαι μαζί του, να ξεχνάς να φας, να νομίζεις πως ζωή χωρίς αυτόν δεν αξίζει, γενικά είναι αυτό το παράλογο "κόλλημα" που τρως μερικές φορές που σε κάνει να μην έχεις επαφή με τον κόσμο όταν είσαι μαζί με τον άλλον και να νοιώθεις άρρωστος όταν δεν είσαι μαζί του, και που δεν μπορείς να το εξηγήσεις με τη λογική.

Η καψούρα έχει ως παρενέργειες έντονες ψευδαισθήσεις (π.χ. "αυτό είναι πραγματική αγάπη" και "θα πεθάνω χωρίς αυτόν"), οι οποίες διαλύονται από μόνες τους σύντομα, μια και η καψούρα έχει.. ημερομηνία λήξης (και είτε μετατρέπεται σε έρωτα και κατόπιν σε αγάπη, ή το ξεπερνάμε τελείως, οπότε έρχονται τα... υπαρξιακά ερωτήματα του στυλ "μα τί στην ευχή του βρήκα;").

Συχνά ακούς εκφράσεις όπως "μετά την πρώτη καψούρα, θα [...]", ή "καψούρα είναι, θα περάσει", που δείχνουν ακριβώς το προσωρινό της καψούρας.

Υ.Γ.: _Ναι, έχω πάθει (κι έχω μάθει )_


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## marilou

Πως τα είπες οραία!!! Θυμηθικα την πρώτη μου ΑΓΑΠΗ...έλληνας βεβαιως!!!


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## Musical Chairs

I don't know about Greek guys, but I think Italian guys are very forward with women. I feel like it's no compliment to be called "bella" or "bellissima" in Italy because they say that to everyone.

I get the impression that kapsoura is a super impassioned crush. To me, there is a difference between a very strong crush and being in love, and I don't know what you all mean by "being madly in love." I always thought of being _madly_ in love as a strong crush, the way people use it in the US.

I think the essence of love is the same everywhere, but it seems that the "being in love" the way I think of it is some other word in Greek. I think it's cool, and a good thing, that Greek has separate words for different types of love.


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## panagiotis

Musical Chairs said:


> I get the impression that kapsoura is a super impassioned crush. To me, there is a difference between a very strong crush and being in love, and I don't know what you all mean by "being madly in love." I always thought of being _madly_ in love as a strong crush, the way people use it in the US.



You are right! It has nothing to do with love, but with *rejection*!

Kapsoura in fact is a slang word for a kind of _obsessive impulse, _caused by rejection from the object of your desire (_the other_). It has four characteristics:
(a) You know that you suffer, but you don't want to change it.
(b) You become monomanic - you enter a _state of neglect _for everything but _the other_.
(c) You get angry and you suffer even more, when you think/know/imagine that _the other_ is not suffering (sic) or is not thinking of you.
(d) You become aggressive against everything related to _the other_, in emotions or even in actions. But this aggression fizzles out at once if you receive a sign that the other may rethink about it.

The same word (_kapsoura_) can also be used to compliment your soulmate (esp. between people of low educational level), meaning that "You are my only thought".


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## Paciente

I loved your explanation Panagiotis, you describe very well the symptoms !!!

Even if its used very widely with variable meaning, (football fans use it to describe their passion for their team) I also think that καψούρα is a individual feeling, in opposition to "έρωτας"  there must be some reciprocity !

so I would translate it as "burning desire" or "burning passion"...

I personnaly dont like the word because its too related to these fat and hairy greek singers (λαϊκά, σκυλάδικα) to describe their "feelings" towards young 
women... (Its a personnal opinion of course !) And express by the way their "hellenicity" (the famous and uncomparable "greek lover")...


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## Ellle72

I believe it's a laiko word which in its simplest form is a cross between obsession and lust in the first throes of passion.  However, it is only fleeting until the fire embers burn out.


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## polymilas

Υπάρχει και η λέξη -καψερός 
ο φουκαριάρης δηλαδή
συνήθως αναφερόμαστε σε κάποιον άλλο που δεν είναι μπροστά μας και το λέμε αν μάθαμε κάτι γι'αυτόν-ρε τον καψερό


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## Stratocrat

Actually there are are words in English that fit perfectly with kapsoura. Infatuation for instance. Enamored is another.


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## redsstone

Stratocrat said:


> Actually there are are words in English that fit perfectly with kapsoura. Infatuation for instance. Enamored is another.


From what I read in previous quotes, seems like infatuation and especially enamored don't carry any of the intensity or weight of the word.
Words have psychic meanings as well as analytical meanings...καπσούρα has undertones missed by "infatuation". One tip off is a person can say "that's just a little infatuation"...hardly seems likely with καπσούρα....μια μικρή καπσούρα;;;; an oxymoron.


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