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prettygoodword.livejournal.com2010-10-21 07:20 am
batrachomyomachia
batrachomyomachia (bah-TRAK-oh-meye-oh-MAH-khee-ah) - n., a tempest in a teapot, a silly altercation, much ado about nothing.
Literally, "battle between mice and frogs," an anonymous Greek mock-epic that parodied Homer. (The Romans attributed it to Homer, but the Greeks knew it was written a few centuries later -- probably the 4th century BCE.) Batracho- is the frogs, -myo- is the mice, and -machia is the battle. A nearly modern translation is here.
I knew it was a bad idea to put the rodent display next to the amphibian tank -- now we've got a batrachomyomachia as their keepers fight for expansion space.
---L.
Literally, "battle between mice and frogs," an anonymous Greek mock-epic that parodied Homer. (The Romans attributed it to Homer, but the Greeks knew it was written a few centuries later -- probably the 4th century BCE.) Batracho- is the frogs, -myo- is the mice, and -machia is the battle. A nearly modern translation is here.
I knew it was a bad idea to put the rodent display next to the amphibian tank -- now we've got a batrachomyomachia as their keepers fight for expansion space.
---L.