Beware of Greek....dogs

It was at this point that things started to unravel. Scott’s optimistic assumption that the sign on the wall said ‘This is where the mayor lives’ turned out to be a fairly crucial mistake, which he would not have made had he known the words for ‘guard’, ‘dog’ and ‘beware’....

......At the hospital, the language problem reared its head for the second time that night. The word xenos in Greek means ‘foreign’ – as in xenophobia, a fear of foreigners – but unfortunately it also means ‘stray’, as in dog. Consequently, on being asked if the dog was xenos, Oliver, after rummaging in his pocket dictionary, was able to tell the nurse he’d been bitten by a man from Germany who was working as a shepherd.

Extract from Love's Labours by Simon Truckle, out now on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1527238873