Lesson 2 Make Your Conversation Colorful
It’s All Greek to Me
Have ____ heard the expression, “It’s Greek to me”?
It means “I can’t understand what ____ are saying because it sounds like a foreign language to me.”
You may wonder why it is not French or ____ but Greek.
____ reason is that the Ancient Greeks had an enormous influence on Western culture.
Greece was the birthplace of Classical Western civilization, and therefore, ____ left us with some pretty great idioms.
Idioms pose a special ____ in language learning because their meanings are different from the words that make them up.
Learning their origins will make it easier to ____ what they mean and to figure out how to use them.
____ are four English idioms with Greek origins.
Achilles’ Heel
According to Homer, the Ancient Greek poet, the Greeks and Trojans had a war ____ lasted ten years.
____ war eventually became known as the Trojan War, where Achilles became the most famous hero.
When Achilles was born, his mother, a goddess of water, ____ to make him immortal.
She dipped him in the magical ____ Styx.
Wherever the water touched, ____ part touched would become indestructible.
____ because she held him upside down by one of his heels, Achilles’ heel remained dry.
This became his ____ weak spot.
Achilles grew up to ____ a great warrior and survived many great battles.
However, during the Trojan War, Paris, a prince of Troy, shot a poisoned arrow that struck Achilles’ heel, which led to ____ death.
This is why the idiom “Achilles’ heel” refers to a fatal weakness, especially in ____ situation where all other parts are strong.
Trojan Horse
Even ____ the death of Achilles, the Trojan War reached a point where no one could win.
One day, ____ Greeks came up with an idea.
They built a big wooden horse and left it outside the city ____ Troy.
They pretended to leave the ____ behind as a gift for the Trojans.
The Trojans ____ they had won, so they pulled the horse inside their city gates.
However, the Greeks had hidden ____ soldiers inside the horse.
That night, the soldiers came out of the horse and opened the gates ____ let in the Greek army waiting outside.
This allowed the ____ to win the war.
Nowadays, people use the idiom “Trojan horse” to ____ a trick or scheme that is used to hide someone’s true purpose or intention.
Cut the Gordian Knot
Greek legend tells of the Gordian Knot, which was tied by a king ____ Gordius.
The knot was ____ complex that no one was able to untie it.
A prophet said whoever could untie the knot ____ become the ruler of Asia.
For hundreds ____ years, people unsuccessfully tried to untie the knot.
Then, Alexander the Great ____ along.
He tried to untie it, and it just got ____
After thinking ____ a while, he drew his sword and cut the knot in half!
Everyone was shocked because ____ was not what they had expected.
He explained, “It doesn’t matter how the knot was untied. The important thing is that it’s ____
____ that day on, the idiom “cutting the Gordian knot” has been commonly used to describe a simple solution to a complex problem.
Spill the Beans
In ancient Greece, people ____ discussed important matters and made decisions through voting.
They cast votes by ____ a white or black bean into a clay jar.
White beans ____ used for positive votes, and black beans for negative votes.
These votes were cast in secret, so if someone knocked ____ the jar, whether by accident or on purpose, they spilled the beans and revealed the results of the vote prematurely.
Because of this origin, the phrase ____ the beans” came to mean “reveal information that was meant to be kept secret.”
Idioms are an important part ____ everyday English, and they make the language rich and colorful.
When you run into idioms that are “Greek to ____ take the time to study their origins.
It is a fun way to increase your understanding of English, and it can also help you to remember them and use ____ in the appropriate situations going forward.