Reminds me of a story of a friend of mine… She did her undergrad and masters in classics and archaeology. As part of her studies she participated in a summer dig on the island of Cyprus. She spent the summer working on remote archaeological sites in the rural countryside.
Well one day she needed to go into town for something. She goes in to the only store in town, a tiny little grocery store. She finds what she’s looking for then goes to check out. Suddenly, with horror, she realizes, “wait, I don’t know how to talk to this guy. I can’t speak modern Greek.”
So she attempts the next best thing. She tries to talk to the shopkeeper…in ancient Greek. She tried to have a random conversation with someone in ancient Greek in modern Cyprus.
The shopkeeper looks at her like she has two heads, pauses for a moment, and says, in English, “lady, no one has talked like that here for two thousand years!”
Reminds me of a story of a friend of mine… She did her undergrad and masters in classics and archaeology. As part of her studies she participated in a summer dig on the island of Cyprus. She spent the summer working on remote archaeological sites in the rural countryside.
Well one day she needed to go into town for something. She goes in to the only store in town, a tiny little grocery store. She finds what she’s looking for then goes to check out. Suddenly, with horror, she realizes, “wait, I don’t know how to talk to this guy. I can’t speak modern Greek.”
So she attempts the next best thing. She tries to talk to the shopkeeper…in ancient Greek. She tried to have a random conversation with someone in ancient Greek in modern Cyprus.
The shopkeeper looks at her like she has two heads, pauses for a moment, and says, in English, “lady, no one has talked like that here for two thousand years!”