A writer in the Herald travel section, recently mentioned unnecessary translations in phrasebooks, such as ‘Help!’” notes Geoff Gilligan of Coogee. “One of the most needless I can recall was from a Greek phrasebook. In the chapter, ‘At The Hairdressers’ was, ‘The water is too hot, you are scalding me.’ That said, I don’t know if it can match, ‘My postilion has been struck by lightning’.”