Weird problem with __getattr__where the item string gets changed during the call

Question

For some odd reason, it seems like __getattr__ changes the value of the item in unpredictable ways, with respect to specific characters.

Here's a complete runnable example:

class blah(object):
    def __getitem__(self,item):
        print(item)
        print(list([ord(s) for s in item]))

    def __getattr__(self, item):
        print(item)
        print(list([ord(s) for s in item]))


b=blah()

print("Index...")
b['ϕ']

print("__getattr__...")
b.ϕ

print("getattr()...")
getattr(b,'ϕ')

Which outputs:

Index...
ϕ
[981]
__getattr__...
φ
[966]
getattr()...
ϕ
[981]

(notice the character changed in the __getattr__ call and not in the others). it doesn't happen for all characters, for example

print("Index...")
b['θ']

print("__getattr__...")
b.θ

print("getattr()...")
getattr(b,'θ')

yields

Index...
θ
[952]
__getattr__...
θ
[952]
getattr()...
θ
[952]

Ideas?