2.20.2011

Salve omnes!

I'm not a language person. I only liked French class when we got king cake. And I wasn't a Latin person for the 3 years I took Latin...maybe my passive aggressive teacher accusing me of cheating on my homework (one of the times I actually turned in Latin homework...) tampered my enthusiasm for declensions and conjugations. Maybe I didn't feel the need to take a language class to get 10 more points on a standardized test. Maybe the fact there is no such thing as Latin food is a huge turn-off...why learn a language if you can't order food in that language?!

This article from The Spectator made me rethink my seriously unwavering attitude towards Latin:
So keen is [Mark Zuckerburg] on [Latin], he once quoted lines from the Aeneid during a Facebook product conference and now regards Latin as one of the keys to his success.
Julius Caesar said "Veni, vidi, vici" not "Veni, dico, vici." Shakespeare play > The Social Network...Caesar wins!

Another gem:
“If I’m on an EasyJet flight with a group of European nationals, none of whom speak English, I find we can communicate if we speak to each other in Latin,” says Grace Moody-Stuart, a Classics teacher in West London. “Forget about Esperanto. Latin is the real universal language of Europeans.”
Who wants to talk to Europeans when you're in Europe? I much prefer Espearnto. Maybe my ignorance of the language causes my fear of Latin (Timendi causa est nescire).

If it's good enough for Mark Zuckerburg (and Grace Moody-Stuart), then it's definitely not good enough for me!

Carpe diem.

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