Re: List of natlangs

Tom Wier wrote:

> Just the other day, for example, I learned that in Spanish, one does
> not say "It's Greek to me," ["Graecus mihi est"] but rather "It's
> Chinese to me" (or at least that's what my informant told me).
> Idioms are always fun like that.
Well.  I have actually listen "Greek", or more common: "Ancient Greek".
But the most common expresion is using "Chinese", indeed.  Also common:
"(S)he is speaking Greek" or "Chinese" reffering to someone speaking
uninteligible.

In some academic circles you could also listen "This is Advanced Chiness
II" or something like that (Using "Greek" also.

BTW. The word "Gringo" used in Mexico and Colombia meaning a USA person or
in Argentina meaning any foreign person, mainly Italians, is suposed to be
derived from "Griego" = "Greek".


--
Carlos Eugenio Thompson Pinzsn
  ITEC-Telecom, Colombia

  cthompso@alpha.telecom-co.net
  http://alpha.telecom-co.net/~cthompso/