Greek Learns Greek

Returned to power after a brief eclipse (TIME, May 30 to June 20). Premier Eleutherios Venizelos has a new cheer with which to keep Greece's fickle Parliament loyal. Back in the U. S. after a visit to Athens, Professor William Lyon ("Billy") Phelps last week revealed that he had taught Yale's famed Brekekekex cheer to the Premier at luncheon. "The long Yale cheer is the only one in the world . . . most of which is in Greek," said he.

The first two lines of Yale's Brekekekex are taken from the chorus of The Frogs by Aristophanes. The words are not Greek, but represent the noise Aristophanes thought frogs make. The cheer:

Brekekekex, coax, coax Brekekekex, coax, coax Oo--op, oo--op, Parabalou Yale, Yale, Yale.

"I shouted it at Venizelos during the service of luncheon and he shouted it back to me. Then I shouted it back to him. When we left the governmental palace ... we rode in a state landau and Venizelos shouted the cheer at us from the steps when we were driving off. The Premier seemed very fond of the cheer and we could hear him quite a way down the street."

Professor Phelps also visited Rome, but Benito Mussolini joined him in no long Yale cheers.

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