2006-04-12

Oh, that LSE

I noticed on the google newsfeed tonight this article on Nasdaq's "raid" on the prestigious London Stock Exchange. It was under the headline "LSE seeks talks over Nasdaq raid".

The problem was, as a regular watcher of Yes, Minister my brain immediately assumed they were talking about the London School of Economics (LSE) rather than the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

Whoops. Honest mistake.

Sir Mark Spencer: Sir Humphrey Appleby would tell Hacker he'd be crazy to tell the job.
Sir Arnold Robinson: Yes. "Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes", I can hear him say. "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts", roughly translated. Though Humphrey would have to put it in English for Hacker's benefit. Hacker went to the LSE, you know.
Sir Mark Spencer: So did I.
Sir Arnold Robinson: Oh, I am sorry.

- Episode #19, "The Bed of Nails"

Jim Hacker: "Sir Mark thinks there maybe votes in it. And if so, I don't intend to look a gift horse in the mouth."
Sir Humphrey: "I put it to you, Minister, that you are looking a Trojan Horse in the mouth."
Jim Hacker: "If we look closely at this gift horse, we'll find it's full of Trojans?"
Bernard Woolley: "If you had looked a Trojan Horse in the mouth, Minister, you would have found Greeks inside. Well the point is that it was the Greeks that gave the Trojan Horse to the Trojans, so technically it wasn't a Trojan Horse at all, it was a Greek Horse. Hence the tag "Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes" which you recall is usually, and somewhat inaccurately translated as Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. Or doubtless you would have recalled had you not attended the LSE. No well, the point is, Minister, that just as the Trojan Horse was in fact Greek, what you describe as a Greek tag is in fact Latin. It's obvious really, the Greeks would never suggest bewaring of themselves if one used such a participle, bewaring that is, and it is clearly Latin, not because Timeo ends in 'o', because the Greek first person also ends in 'o'. Though actually, there is a Greek word called Timao meaning I honour. But the 'os' ending is a nominative singular termination of the second declension in Greek, and an accusative plural in Latin of course, though actually Danaos is not only the Greek for Greek but also the Latin for Greek, it is very interesting really."

- Episode #19, "The Bed of Nails"

Sir Humphrey: Well I think Bernard means is that he'll know how to behave if he went to an English university, even if it was the LSE.
- Episode #2, "The Official Visit"