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Chuck Norris is doing his darnedest to help the Greek economy before summer sales end August 31. He can kick ass with both feet on the ground*, so why not kick the crisis?

A Kotsovolos commercial running since July has been using pop culture and language localization to sell products, along with a cartoon version of the young Carlos Ray whose TV series, “Walker, Texas Ranger,” still gets a fair amount of play in Greece. In other words, he’s recognizable even though the martial arts master is 71 and no longer has red hair.

Chuck in Greek is spelled Τσακ or Tsak. “Τσακíζουμε τις τιμες” in the dialogue bubble means “We’re smashing prices.” Tsak, tsakizoume — clever, no?

The accompanying slogans τσακ-μπαμ (tsak-bam) and τσακα-τσακα (tsaka-tsaka) translate to in a hurry, something akin to American slang of chop-chop. So hurry up and get a good deal!

But it seems even Chuck and his superhuman powers cannot overcome austerity and unemployment, as turnover is down 25 percent and businesses continue to close.

May he — and we — live to fight another day.

*Title and idea for this post inspired by the Chuck Norris Fact Generator, an online spin-off of Vin Diesel’s that documents fictional and impossible feats.

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The Author

Kat is a well-traveled journalist and author who lives and works full time in Athens. To learn more, see “About Me.”

Shortlink: http://bit.ly/TsakGR