Really useful Latin Phrases

[pluckyduck]

Okay, I'm an Admin on the board, so you'd think I'd know where something should be posted, right? Well, you'd be wrong. I started to post this two different places (first "diversions" and second "cafe") before I landed here.

Writers can always use "Really Useful Latin Phrases", right?

English: I can't hear you. I have a banana in my ear.

Latin: Te audire no possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure


Lots more here:

http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/latin.htm

Andrea
who says "Aio, quantitas magna frumentorum est " (yes, that is a large amount of corn)

[AshleyA[$]]

I just had a Sesame Street flashback with the "helpful" phrase you just posted.

Ashley

[nylawgirl]

Well, first I must give thanks to Andrea who could have assured me of a top score on my Federal Jurisdiction exam, if I had written my entire exam in Latin. I knew there was a reason why I came back to Epinions.

Secondly, those Latin to English translations bring back my four years of studying Latin (all of high school). Yes, it was required and no, I don't remember as much as I should except for a few nouns, like: puella, ae means girl, deus, i means god, and unfortunately, I do remember how to conjugate all those nouns and verbs (including future perfect). I would demonstrate but I fear I have already revealed the level of excitement that was part and parcel of my high school years.

-- Cate

[Redlass]

I never took Latin so I'll just toss out an anecdote for you.

Last year my husband was playing the part of Faustus in Marlowe's play of the same name. He had one speech that was entirely in Latin and lasted for about five minutes. He worked so hard at memorizing it that he eventually started giving it in his sleep at night. So all I know of Latin is what hubby would wake me up with in the middle of the night--and it all involved summoning devils and abjuring Christ. Not that useful on a daily basis...

[theeye]

At the commencement ceremony at Princeton (my alma mater), two students give speeches. The valedictorian is the usual highest GPA senior and gives the usual sort of graduation speech. The salutatorian is chosen from among the top x% of the class based on the requirement that s/he be capable of writing and delivering a speech in Latin.

The interesting part is that the graduating class is given a copy of the text of the speech, including footnotes (in Latin, of course) indicating where to applaud, laugh, laugh uproariously, cheer, etc. The parents are inevitably very impressed with the class's fluency in Latin.


(Note: if you're wondering about the class's ability to interpret those Latin footnotes, do try to recall that (a) a lot of English words have Latin roots; (b) a lot of us studied *some* Romance language; and (c) it doesn't take all that long to learn the Latin words for "laugh", "cheer" and "applaud".)

[Social14]

Theeye, your description of the graduation speech made me laugh. If we offered latin at my college, I could see us doing something like that. Alas, I have never learned latin - it got cut from my high shcool before I entered it, and my college does not offer it either. Probably would have helped me on these GRE's I am studying for....
~Wendy

[hadassahchana[$]]

. So all I know of Latin is what hubby would wake me up with in the middle of the night--and it all involved summoning devils and abjuring Christ. Not that useful on a daily basis...

I don't know, Bridgette - I can think of several occasion each day when knowing this would be kind of useful!

Cindy "You really don't want to see me drive!"