In foreign languages a word
That’s misremembered or misheard
Can leave the hearer quite amazed
With eyebrows well and truly raised,
Since what is said is strange or cheek
– And this of course applies to Greek.
In Crete this unintended wit
Is, sadly, often from a Brit.
The problem’s not the small mistake –
A slip that all of us can make –
But that in seeking to impress
Some people land in quite a mess.
One tourist thought that he would share a
Cheery greeting “Kali mera”:
The Cretan simply shook his head
Since Calamari came instead –
Expressing thus the fervent wish
The man should be a cuttlefish;
One of those tentacled white things
That’s served in batter sliced in rings.
