Wednesday, January 22, 2020

It's All Greek to You and Me, So What Is It to the Greeks? Part 1 - Greek

That's Greek to me or it's (all) Greek to me is an idiom in English, expressing that something is difficult to understand.

The idiom is typically used with respect to something of a foreign nature, however it may be considered an insult to some. Complexity or imprecision of verbal or written expression or diagram, often containing excessive use of jargon, dialect, mathematics, science, symbols, or diagrams. The metaphor makes reference to Greek (either ancient or modern), as an archetypal foreign form of communication both written and spoken. Technically, the phrase is classified as a dead metaphor, meaning that its components cannot be used separately, unlike for example the dormant metaphor "foot of the hill", which permits saying "that hill has a tree at its foot".


This week, if it's all Greek to you and me, what is it to the Greeks?

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions." - Alfred Lord Tennyson (British poet, 1809 - 1892)



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