When abroad, speak as locals speak, recommends an old expats' mantra on assimilation.
Thanks to John Carr and Paul Anastasi's ''Your eyes fourteen - The mad Greek dictionary'', the time-consuming task of mastering colloquial Greek is no longer an arduous trip to ''the devil's mother that will get the olive oil out of you''.

The authors discuss each saying's origins in terms of national history and psychology. Familiarise yourself ''knife to the bone'' with hundreds of the most frequent and colourful expressions Greeks use in everyday conversation - and show that you too can ''catch a flea in midflight''.