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Inspirational Reads

Friday Morning Latin Lesson, Vol LXXXI

August 13, 2010

Because I'm sick and lazy--but more lazy than sick--you're not getting what I had originally planned in this spot. We'll delay that shizz till next week.

Instead, I'll give you this little snippet:

We use a lot of abbreviations for Latin phrases in English. That is to say, we use a lot of abbreviations of Latin phrases in English incorrectly, mostly because people don't know what they mean.

i.e. stands for "id est" which means "it is" or "that is". We should use this in place of "in other words".

e.g. stands for "exempli gratia" which means "for the sake of an example", which we should use as "for example" (see, literal translation!).

etc... stands for "et cetera", which means "and other things" or "and so forth". The most grating thing here is that the pronunciation has changed so that the c has taken on a soft (sibilant) sound /s/ instead of the classical hard /k/ sound as the Romans would have pronounced it. But then "et ket-er-ah" sounds funny, even when I say it in my head.

For a handy guide, here's The Oatmeal explaining how to use the first two in the list, i.e., a proper grammar guide in humorous fashion for you.

See what I did there? I applied today's Latin lesson within the Latin lesson!!! I should be rewarded with something grand, e.g., boobs.

Fuck, I'm awesome.

That may be the cough drops talking; I'm unsure at this point.

Anyway, to keep up with tradition, here's a non sequitur picture of some girls wearing "togas".



To answer your questions: Green, white on the left, turquoise, white on the right, and then pink.

Valete, amici!

14 comments:

Bev said...

A helpful lesson, as always. Thanks, Professor Booty.

Nice "togas." They look like something Wilma Flintstone would wear.

Moooooog35 said...

How old are these girls?

I'm just wondering if what I'm doing right now is legal or not.

Sully said...

My lazy approach to blogging is rubbing off on you...

MJenks said...

@ Bev: That's precisely why I put the quotes around "togas". They look more like saris, but even that's not quite right.

I think it's more like "we have no fucking clue, so let's dress slutty in hopes of free drinks".

@ Moooooog: I hope the fuck they're college aged. Not for your sake, but more mine.

@ Sully: No, I blame the lack of sleep and the full-on frontal assault of illness the past six weeks or so. You are blameless.

JLC said...

They're like the Fanta girls of Rome. Or something.

DEZMOND said...

ah, those darn cough drops ....
and may I ask when shall we see you in a toga?

Steam Me Up, Kid said...

Looks like Pink is already drunk, judging by the state of her toga. I'd start with her so you get her before she passes out, and then skip Green altogether because you can tell she's an asshole.

What? She SO is.

Red said...

I always look up "i.e." before I use it and always find I'm using it properly. Why do I doubt myself? Why do I ask questions in comment sections?

Pearl said...

Pleased to report that I use all of those words correctly.

On the other hand, I had no idea about the "et ket-er-ah" bit. Dammit.

Pearl

Pearl said...

Oh. And Steam Me Up is right. You can tell Green's an asshole. :-)

Pearl

SkylersDad said...

If I remember that night correctly, pink was a real trooper and wouldn't say no to anything, but green really was a bitch because she found semen in her hair to be all "icky".

Ed said...

THAT is a toga party I can get behind.

Unless they like being on top more.

Lisa-tastrophies said...

Well, that totally clears up that whole "I before E except after C" thing.


And I wouldn't touch turquoise - she looks like the "throw down" friend we girls have. Trust me you would need a penicillin shot.

kate sweeten said...

Man, I miss college...would it be totally sad to throw a toga party for all of my nearly 30-year-old friends.

No?

That's what I thought.