It’s Danaergeschenk, meaning a (suspicious) gift from the Greeks. Anybody who has holidayed in the Ægean archipelago will vouch for the locals’ charm and skill as hosts and caterers. And we usually give good old Homer the credit for pointing out the inherent danger in accepting their offerings. But as so often with Homer, that’s just another myth. No, not the bit about Greeks; the idea that Homer said it.
Vase 670 BC
In fact it was Vergil: “….timeo Danaos et dona ferentis”, I’m afraid of Greeks, even when they’re carrying gifts. The Trojan (i.e. Greek) Horse episode happened after the end of the Iliad and before the beginning of the Odyssey. So Vergil filled in the gaps, thereby making the lives of so many school-children a Latin misery.
And it’s perhaps ironic that the German language has the perfect word to help them with their current currency struggles with the Greeks. What a pity that nobody remembered its meaning when Greece flattered to deceive the EU in 2000!
Boadicea's Chariot 
Manche Leute änderen sich nie. Some people never change.
I am looking forward to seeing what will happen when, if, the French
send Sarkozy into forced-retirement. The consensus is very delicate
with Sarkozy doing Germany’s bidding, it might shatter without.
Many years ago The Times ran a series of Billboard advertisements depicting monumentally bad decisions accompanied by the tag, ‘Don’t you sometimes wish you were better informed?’ One poster showed two teams working to build a bridge from both sides of a wide ravine. Of course the two halves did not align. Another showed the ‘Greek’ horse entering Troy, with all the citizens rejoicing. This poster was shown at East Croydon Railway station. I so longed to get out of the train and scrawl a bubble out of the mouth of one of the Trojans, “Timeo Danaos et dona ferentis”, which I thought would have been very cool. Sadly I never had a suitable marker pen and, between you and me, I could not quite remember the Latin word for ‘the Greeks’, Danaos’.
Sipu, your intellectual honesty does you eternal credit. 🙂 And does anybody dare alight at East Croydon?
I’m beginning to think the Greeks are spinning out the whole sorry business until the last package of the new drachmas, ordered some time ago according to some reports, has been delivered.
Sheona, yes. My prediction is that they won’t accept the new EU terms on Sunday and will announce their departure from the Euro.
Later, the Greek gubmint is now falling apart and the pundits are talking about the break-up of the Euro.
Sipu: I always thought it should be “Beware of gifts bearing Greeks”.