Ouk elabon polin
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Jump to navigationJump to searchοὐκἔλβον πόλιν· (Ouk elabon polin) (Greek): They did not capture the city.
When spoken, sounds like "Où qu’est la bonne, Pauline?" in French ("Where is the maid, Pauline?").
The sentence is from Xénophon, and presumably here refers to a French schoolchildren's joke (Xénophon's books are often used as introductory texts for Greek).
If you speak the whole sentence "Ouk élabov polin, alla gar elpis éphè kaka" ("They did not capture the city, since they didn't have a hope of taking it") it sounds to French ears like "Où qu’est la bonne, Pauline? A la gare, elle pisse et fait caca." (Where is the maid, Pauline? She is at the station, weeing and pooing.")