Friday, May 4, 2007

What do the Chinese say?

Often when we find something intelligible, we use the phrase “It’s all Greek to me!”

A bit of research on the interweb revealed this expression dates back to a Medieval Latin proverb “Graecum est; non potest legi” – literally translated as: It is Greek; it cannot be read.

I found out from a friend who recently visited Greece, that they don’t use this expression there. In Greece they say: “It’s all Chinese to me!”

Of course, Greek to the Greeks makes perfect sense…

Now, my question (and quest) is to find out… when they can’t read something… what do the Chinese say?

Update
Even more research on the interweb has revealed that the Chinese answer to a higher power… They say “It’s like heavenly script.”

In fact, here is a page that provides versions of this phrase/meaning from around the world.

2 reactions

(1)
Finding Missing Words • Monday, June 9 2008 at 8:33 pm

[...] you talk about another language than your own. Some months ago, I did a post on the phrase “it is all Greek to me.” I pondered what do the Greeks say when they read something they can’t [...]
(2)
Idea Sandbox - Finding Missing Words • Thursday, September 10 2009 at 4:24 pm

[...] you talk about another language than your own. Some months ago, I did a post on the phrase “it is all Greek to me.” I pondered what do the Greeks say when they read something they can’t [...]