Say What? Beware Greeks bearing gifts & Never look a gift horse in the mouth
Today’s Say What? is all about gifts. Well, it’s about horses, too, but mostly, it’s the gifts. Some of the characters from Pirates of the Caribbean will help us out as we take a look at beware Greeks bearing gifts and don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
Beware Greeks bearing gifts
This saying goes all the way back to stories of the Trojan War. The Greeks had besieged Troy for ten years and were weary of war. Odysseus, perhaps the wiliest and most clever of the Greek leaders, came up with a plan to get some of the Greek army inside Troy’s walls: build a giant wooden horse as an offering to the gods and hide men inside it, while the main body of the army pretended to sail away. The Trojans would not be able to resist such an offering and would bring it inside the city walls.
In the second book of Virgil’s Aeneid, Laocoön, a Trojan priest, urged the Trojans to destroy the horse, or at least not bring it into the city, and is the origin of the sentiment behind the saying. His protest, translated from the original Latin, reads “Do not trust the horse, Trojans. Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts.”
The words of the saying have changed some from the literal translation given above, but the essential meaning hasn’t changed a bit: don’t trust your enemies, even when they seem to be giving you a present, because odds are, they’re trying to play a trick on you.
Even though classical literature and history aren’t as widely taught as they used to be, the sentiment behind this saying is easily understood.
Commodore Norrington tapped his fingers lightly against his telescope, frowning as he studied the cavern into which Sparrow had rowed himself. Jack Sparrow’s plan was oh, so tempting and part of him longed to do just what the pirate had suggested: return to the Dauntless and blow the other pirates out of the water when they appeared. But Sparrow was one of them; he couldn’t be trusted, no matter the appeal of his plan. It was just as likely he’d sell Barbossa the very same plan and then escape in the confusion with whatever treasure he sought. Beware Greeks bearing gifts, Norrington thought, and did not give the order.
Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth
While many sayings in Say What? are literary in nature, this one is rooted in natural history and veterinary medicine. It’s not easy to tell the age of a horse just by looking at one. On the outside, a horse that is just two years old may look very much the same as one who is nearing twenty. There’s one place to get the truth, and that’s the horse’s mouth, quite literally. As a horse ages, it grows more teeth, and the length, angle and condition of those teeth can tell knowledgeable people how old the horse is, as well as its general health. Incidentally, this is also where the phrase “long in the tooth” comes from.
Why shouldn’t we look gift horses in the mouth? Well, it’s quite a show of ingratitude. If someone has just given you a gift, it’s rude in the extreme to start inspecting it in front of him or her, as if you are checking it for flaws or trying to determine how much it’s worth. The best policy with gifts-as my parents reminded me every birthday-is to just appreciate that you received one, no matter what it is.
Of course, just because the saying reflects the natural world doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have a literary history. John Heywood first collected the saying in 1546 in his work “A dialogue conteinyng the number in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue,” where the saying appears as “No man ought to looke a geuen hors in the mouth.” But the proverb itself may date even further back in history. In Saint Jerome’s Letter to the Ephesians, we find “Noli equi dentes inspicere donati,” which is translated as “Never inspect the teeth of a given horse.”
Regardless, this saying is well known and can be readily used in stories, particularly by characters who know better than to guess what a gift might be worth.
In the midst of battle, Norrington hadn’t noticed that the Black Pearl had slipped away. It was only when Elizabeth and Mister Turner returned to the Dauntless, a bedraggled and crestfallen Jack Sparrow in tow, that he realized his own good fortune. Once they were underway back to Port Royal, he spared a moment to wonder why the crew left on the Pearl hadn’t come to their fellows’ aid. After a moment, he shook his head at his own thoughts. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, he reminded himself, and went below.
Depending on the giver, gifts can be tricky things to deal with. Your characters will rightfully be wary of presents from their enemies, and grateful for the ones from their friends. But there’s one very important thing to remember, whichever saying you use: it’s the thought that counts.
Sources:
Beware Greeks bearing gifts
This saying goes all the way back to stories of the Trojan War. The Greeks had besieged Troy for ten years and were weary of war. Odysseus, perhaps the wiliest and most clever of the Greek leaders, came up with a plan to get some of the Greek army inside Troy’s walls: build a giant wooden horse as an offering to the gods and hide men inside it, while the main body of the army pretended to sail away. The Trojans would not be able to resist such an offering and would bring it inside the city walls.
In the second book of Virgil’s Aeneid, Laocoön, a Trojan priest, urged the Trojans to destroy the horse, or at least not bring it into the city, and is the origin of the sentiment behind the saying. His protest, translated from the original Latin, reads “Do not trust the horse, Trojans. Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts.”
The words of the saying have changed some from the literal translation given above, but the essential meaning hasn’t changed a bit: don’t trust your enemies, even when they seem to be giving you a present, because odds are, they’re trying to play a trick on you.
Even though classical literature and history aren’t as widely taught as they used to be, the sentiment behind this saying is easily understood.
Commodore Norrington tapped his fingers lightly against his telescope, frowning as he studied the cavern into which Sparrow had rowed himself. Jack Sparrow’s plan was oh, so tempting and part of him longed to do just what the pirate had suggested: return to the Dauntless and blow the other pirates out of the water when they appeared. But Sparrow was one of them; he couldn’t be trusted, no matter the appeal of his plan. It was just as likely he’d sell Barbossa the very same plan and then escape in the confusion with whatever treasure he sought. Beware Greeks bearing gifts, Norrington thought, and did not give the order.
Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth
While many sayings in Say What? are literary in nature, this one is rooted in natural history and veterinary medicine. It’s not easy to tell the age of a horse just by looking at one. On the outside, a horse that is just two years old may look very much the same as one who is nearing twenty. There’s one place to get the truth, and that’s the horse’s mouth, quite literally. As a horse ages, it grows more teeth, and the length, angle and condition of those teeth can tell knowledgeable people how old the horse is, as well as its general health. Incidentally, this is also where the phrase “long in the tooth” comes from.
Why shouldn’t we look gift horses in the mouth? Well, it’s quite a show of ingratitude. If someone has just given you a gift, it’s rude in the extreme to start inspecting it in front of him or her, as if you are checking it for flaws or trying to determine how much it’s worth. The best policy with gifts-as my parents reminded me every birthday-is to just appreciate that you received one, no matter what it is.
Of course, just because the saying reflects the natural world doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have a literary history. John Heywood first collected the saying in 1546 in his work “A dialogue conteinyng the number in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue,” where the saying appears as “No man ought to looke a geuen hors in the mouth.” But the proverb itself may date even further back in history. In Saint Jerome’s Letter to the Ephesians, we find “Noli equi dentes inspicere donati,” which is translated as “Never inspect the teeth of a given horse.”
Regardless, this saying is well known and can be readily used in stories, particularly by characters who know better than to guess what a gift might be worth.
In the midst of battle, Norrington hadn’t noticed that the Black Pearl had slipped away. It was only when Elizabeth and Mister Turner returned to the Dauntless, a bedraggled and crestfallen Jack Sparrow in tow, that he realized his own good fortune. Once they were underway back to Port Royal, he spared a moment to wonder why the crew left on the Pearl hadn’t come to their fellows’ aid. After a moment, he shook his head at his own thoughts. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, he reminded himself, and went below.
Depending on the giver, gifts can be tricky things to deal with. Your characters will rightfully be wary of presents from their enemies, and grateful for the ones from their friends. But there’s one very important thing to remember, whichever saying you use: it’s the thought that counts.
Sources:
- Dictionary.com here and here
- Phrases.org here and here
- Greeks bearing gifts
- Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth