Lost in transliteration.

I've never understood the meaning behind the adage, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." I assumed it had something to do with the Trojan horse, but even that didn't make sense. If the Trojans had looked inside the wooden horse's mouth (oh, boy, we're back on horses, I just realized).... Anyway, if the Trojans had looked inside the wooden horse's mouth, they might have seen the Greeks hiding inside. So, that would have been a good thing; to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Well, we can all sleep better tonight, because I know what it means now. And I found out while looking for the origin of an Armenian expression. The Armenian expression in question was "Once there was and there was not." It's used at the beginning of fairy tales, so I guess that makes it the equivalent of our "Once upon a time." And, honestly, I think it makes more sense than "Once upon a time."

"Once there was and there was not an ogre." There's no such thing as an ogre (well, not like the kind in fairy tales, anyway). So the Armenians are telling their children, "This is make believe; the ogre exists soley for the purpose of the story." I dig it.

"Once upon a time, there was an ogre." We're pretty much just confusing our kids. What time? When was there an ogre? Huh? Did the ogre wear a watch? (Of course I may be the only kid who experienced that confusion.)

But back to the horse. In Armenian, the saying is "Don't count the teeth of a gift horse." It means that you should be grateful for the gift, rather than fussing over whether or not it's perfect.

This is what it looks like in Armenian: Նւիրւած ձիու ատամները չեն հաշւի

This is the tranlisteration: Nvirvatz dzioo atamner@ chen hashvi

Sort of cool. I don't know what the deal is with the @. That's how it shows up in wikiquote.