a wish-list for english stuff
It is said beware of Greeks bearing gift* however I know very few Greeks indeed so I should not be on my guard if my dear english friends decided in the kindness of their hearts to bring some gifts when they cross the channel to visit. Hence here is a list of things that I miss and cannot find in Poland. (Sept 07, an update as I find my way around the shops):
impossible to get (so far):
- herbs: fennel seeds, sage
- Carr’s water biscuits
- Green & Black Maya Gold chocolate
- Terry’s Chocolate Orange
very hard to get (or to get one of good quality):
- good strong tea (Twinings English Breakfast & Earl Grey, or Clipper Organic)
- stilton, the very king and queen in one of cheeses
- biter, very bitter, seville oranges marmalade
an extravagant wish list/what I miss
- Jermyn St / Savile Row shirts (OK, more to show what I miss rather what I could practically ask you to bring)
- fine egyptian cotton bed linen (might need to get it when I am next in the UK)
to be continued … and also:
- my post (check with Janet) – a bit cheeky
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*An explanation of the phrase follows:
Sir Mark thinks there maybe votes in it. And if so, I don’t intend to look a gift horse in the mouth.
I put it to you, Minister, that you are looking a Trojan Horse in the mouth.
If we look closely at this gift horse, we’ll find it’s full of Trojans?
If you had looked a Trojan Horse in the mouth, Minister, you would have found Greeks inside. Well the point is that it was the Greeks that gave the Trojan Horse to the Trojans, so technically it wasn’t a Trojan Horse at all, it was a Greek Horse. Hence the tag Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes which you recall is usually, and somewhat inaccurately translated as Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. Or doubtless you would have recalled had you not attended the LSE. [...] No well, the point is, Minister, that just as the Trojan Horse was in fact Greek, what you describe as a Greek tag is in fact Latin. It’s obvious really, the Greeks would never suggest bewaring of themselves if one used such a participle, bewaring that is, and it is clearly Latin, not because Timeo ends in ‘o’, because the Greek first person also ends in ‘o’. Though actually, there is a Greek word called Timao meaning I honour. But the ‘os’ ending is a nominative singular termination of the second declension in Greek, and an accusative plural in Latin of course, though actually Danaos is not only the Greek for Greek but also the Latin for Greek, it is very interesting really.
Ian Anderson Esq elaborates further:
Looking a gift horse in the mouth actually has nothing to do with greek or trojan horses. As I understand it, the age (and probably health) of a horse can quickly be judged (if you know how) by looking at its teeth – hence, “in the mouth”. Now, since hoses are valuable, anyone giving one as a gift is probably giving a “gift horse” which is a) old and b) mangy. Which defects you would only discover if you looked in its mouth. Hence the phrase, not to look a gift horse in the mouth, which implies that you don’t want to look too closely at a windfall just in case it turns out not to be of such good quality as it first appears. So there.
And the correct translation of “timeo danaos…” is either “Beware Greeks and those bearing gifts”, or “Beware Greeks even when bearing gifts”, depending on whether “et” is translated as “and” or as an abbreviated version of “etiam”, meaning “even”.