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Greeks and Geeks

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by sojourner, Jun 8, 2011.

  1. sojourner

    sojourner Silver IL'ite

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    We heard from our son traveling in Peru. He wrote to say that he needs to borrow some more money for the trip. To cushion the shock he wrote,

    "I come bearing gifts."

    :)

    This made me look up the origin of this phrase. Apparently, this is 'an allusion to the story of the wooden horse of Troy, used by the Greeks to trick their way into the city. It is recorded in Virgil's Aeneid, Book 2, 19 BC:

    "Do not trust the horse, Trojans. Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts." '

    And then there was also this:

    'this phrase is now little used, although it was resurrected in a sideways reference during a 1990s copyright dispute. There was considerable discussion then,in Internet chat rooms etc., regarding the company Compuserve, who owned the copyright to the GIF image format, and their possible intentions to restrict its use. Some people feared that they might be taken to law by Compuserve if they received and viewed GIF images without permission. The phrase "beware of geeks bearing gifs" was coined to sum that up.'

    :)
     
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