When reading, you will stumble over Greek words that have been absorbed into the English language. When writing, you will be tempted to use them yourself. Using words alien to the language you're writing in can be useful; beware the traps, though. It's a minefield and the traps are made to catch a grown elephant. Avoid Greek expressions if you aren't sure about how to use them correctly.
Lets get down to cases. 'Abyss' means a bottomless pit or chasm and found its way into English by way of the Bible. It can safely be used in religious or philosophical context. Never use it to describe a real landscape feature. When out for a walk and coming past a seemingly bottomless gorge, it is just that, a seemingly bottomless gorge. But we know that in this world, it has a bottom and can't therefore be an abyss. If you write fiction or fantasy, though, you are allowed the term in landscape description, because you make the rules and the gorge might really be bottomless.
A word I really don't like to see and never use is 'acme'. It means the peak of a structure, or the zenith thereof. Saying it that way, you can see that you don't really need it. You've got two words saying the same that will be much easier to understand by readers. Writers using acme are not at the acme of their writing. If you ask me, they might fall into an abyss and won't be missed.
'Acropolis' is an easy one. But you already got it wrong. You were thinking of the acropolis of Athens, weren't you? The acropolis of Athens is called the Acropolis of Athens. And yes, I was leading you on with this one. Acropolis means high city ('acro' high and 'polis' city) and every Greek city had one. It is allowed to use the word for non-Greek cultures if the principle of high city applies. As the Acropolis of Athens is such a landmark, convention is to use an upper case A to distinguish it from just any acropolis like the one in Corinth.
If every Greek city had an acropolis, each had an 'agora', too. It was a wide open space that was in communal use. While it is quite common to assume that these spaces were used as a market, we actually don't know if they were. Reading Plato gives the idea that they weren't. Italian cities still have the beautiful tradition of going for a walk on the piazza, the central place, in the evening. There is no market at that time, it's the place to see and be seen. I think that is the picture you have to keep in mind when using this word. It also explains why the term agoraphobia in being used for the anxiety of vast open places and of large crowds at the same time.
Using Greek words might be 'anathema' to some, but they can come in useful. Anathema is one of those useful words. The early Greeks used it to describe things that were offered to the gods. These offerings were set apart and became excluded from the secular world. From there, the word went in stages to mean anything set apart. From there the step to meaning excommunicated was a small one. Finally it took on the meaning of being irreversibly opposed to. I personally stick to the last definition when I use the word. When a person is opposed to something, they might still be open to talk about it at least. When something is anathema to a person, they won't even discuss it.
Another dangerous word is 'ethos'. In original Greek, it meant an accustomed place (Homer still used it as physical place). Someone who knew their place in society was a person with character. Later, the use was broadened to mean fundamental values pertinent to a society, a nation, a sect, or a movement. As ethos is the root word for ethics, it should be used in the positive emanations of values. Using the word in an example: If I wanted to be dismissing, I would attest them with a childish mentality. If I want to be positive, I would attest them a childlike ethos.
My writing is never dogma. 'Dogma' is a set of rules or principles set down by a person or person in authority (usually self-appointed). Dogma is generally a negative term though one tries to ignore that when writing about the Catholic Church. Dogma is not open to discussion and to me anathema for lack of ethos.
Using Greek is not for 'hoi polloi'. Hoi polloi is an expression you shouldn't really use except if you want to be really offensive. It means literally the many and refers to the many as opposed to the select or elect few. This is an expression that can go terribly wrong for some. When using the expression at all, do it with care. The expression is a plural and needs a verb to reflect that. 'Hoi' is an article like the; there is no 'the hoi polloi'; that translates to 'the the many'. I have seen both mistakes frequently from writers and journalists that obviously belong to hoi polloi. Stick to English.
Once you get to the end of this article, you might give yourself 'kudos', praise for an exceptional achievement. Kudos is singular. If you give yourself kudos, you clap yourself on the back once. If you want to do it more often, then it is kudoi. It follows that the expression 'many kudos' doesn't exist. And as kudos is a singular, then kudo can't be the singular of kudos either. Kudo just doesn't exist. Stick to English.
You are afraid of using Greek words. That doesn't mean you have a 'phobia' of them. Phobia is more than being afraid of something or to fear something. Phobia kicks in where reason dribbles out of your brain. You might fear the snarling tiger in front of you, because that is a real threat. If you are afraid of every cat hissing at you after that, then you have taken it into the realm of phobia. Phobia happens in your mind and is only marginally connected to reality.
When writing, you often have a plethora of synonyms. A 'plethora' is more than enough, an overabundance of something. This doesn't have to be a true overabundance, but can be an imagined or false one. If you look at the plethora of synonyms, you will find that many terms that are offered as synonyms to each other really aren't quite synonyms. They come near to each other in meaning, but do not mean exactly the same. Equally, a plethora of choices might not leave you any choice at all.
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