timeripple: (hat and airport)
timeripple ([personal profile] timeripple) wrote2006-04-08 10:09 am

gnothi seauton

My Greek professor told us the "How do you say 'I (a woman) appear to be Greek?'" joke the other day. I am much amused. Also, there is a dramatic reading of the Odyssey tomorrow at the MFA. I might go, depending on... how much Greek I get done today.

I'm so predictable.

[identity profile] satakieli.livejournal.com 2006-04-08 04:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Share? If it would be intelligible to non-Greek-majors?

[identity profile] penguin-beta.livejournal.com 2006-04-08 05:22 pm (UTC)(link)
I have not heard this one either, nor can I extrapolate the punchline from what may or may not be the correct way to say the phrase in question (having been stymied by whether or not dokeo takes the accusative of the thing appeared, and being too lazy to dig out Smyth to check).

In other words, tell me what the joke is before I slip further into the mirthless world of Greek morphology!

[identity profile] timeripple.livejournal.com 2006-04-08 05:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Phaino, not dokeo. Helle phaino. I don't actually know how what form Helle(/a?) is, especially since my dictionary says Hellenike. But K.G. assures us it's correct.

[identity profile] timeripple.livejournal.com 2006-04-08 05:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Helle/a phaino. Say it aloud.

[identity profile] penguin-beta.livejournal.com 2006-04-08 06:19 pm (UTC)(link)
If K.G. says it is correct, then correct it must be.

Hee. *snicker* *snort*

*runs off to tell the joke to everyone she knows who knows Greek*