# It's Greek to me: Why is the language of 'The Odyssey' shorthand for all that we donโ€™t understand? Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700/it-s-greek-to-me-why-is-the-language-of-the-odyssey-shorthand-for-all-that-we-don-t-understand Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700/it-s-greek-to-me-why-is-the-language-of-the-odyssey-shorthand-for-all-that-we-don-t-understand.md Podcast: [Grammar Girl](https://stenobird.com/podcast/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700) Published: 2026-08-25T09:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/grammar-girl/episodes/it-is-greek-to-me-why-did-the-language-of-the-odyssey-become Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/69c1476c007cdcf83fc0964b/e/6a872c7da103c59e0283084d/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700/episodes/it-s-greek-to-me-why-is-the-language-of-the-odyssey-shorthand-for-all-that-we-don-t-understand Duration seconds: 652 ## Resource 1214. This week, we look at why we say, "It's all Greek to me" when we don't understand something. We trace the phrase from medieval monks who couldn't read Greek manuscripts to Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," and look at how other languages, like Czech, German, and Cantonese, express the same idea of incomprehension. The Greek segment was written by Valerie Fridland, a professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada in Reno and author of " Why We Talk Funny: The Real Story Behind Our Accents ." You can find her at valeriefridland.com . A hearty thank-you to our Keepers of the Commas on Patreon . We appreciate your support! Larry Rosenblum Mahala Russell George Wilson Laurel Paul Linda Cox Birna Anna Bjรถrnsdรณttir ๐Ÿ”—  Join the Grammar Girl Patreon. ๐Ÿ”—  Share your familect recording in   Speakpipe  or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475) ๐Ÿ”—  Watch my   LinkedIn Learning writing courses . ๐Ÿ”—  Subscribe to the   newsletter . ๐Ÿ”—  Find an edited   transcript . ๐Ÿ”—  Get   Grammar Girl books . | HOST: Mignon Fogarty | Grammar Girl is part of  the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network . Audio Engineer:  Castria Communications Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb | Theme music by  Catherine Rannus . | Grammar Girl Social Media:  YouTube .  TikTok .  Facebook .  Threads .  Instagram .  LinkedIn .  Mastodon .  Bluesky . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700/episodes/it-s-greek-to-me-why-is-the-language-of-the-odyssey-shorthand-for-all-that-we-don-t-understand/transcription-requests` โ€” Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700/it-s-greek-to-me-why-is-the-language-of-the-odyssey-shorthand-for-all-that-we-don-t-understand.md` โ€” Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.