What does Alexander the Great have to do with lemonade?
(Rodrigo Peñaloza, 27-XII-2019)

Plutarch, in “Life of Alexander”, 27.5, tells that Alexander the Great went to the oracle of Amon (the Egyptian version of Zeus) in the oasis of Siva, Lebanese coast, after the foundation of Alexandria. When the priest tried to address him friendly with the Greek expression ὦ παιδίον (ó-paidíon), which means “Oh little child”, the priest pronounced it wrongly, because he didn’t speak Greek fluently. He said instead ὧ παιδίος (ó-paidíos), which sounds pretty close to ὧ παῖ Διóς (ó-pai-diós), which means “Oh son of Zeus”. Of course Alexander didn’t take long to spread the news that the oracle of the god Amon had called him the son of Zeus.

We can draw two lessons from Plutarch’s story: first, you better learn Greek; second, that Alexander’s reaction is the true origin of the proverbial phrase “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”.