Posted Tuesday 15 April 2003

Latin Class

Henrietta, Texas: When I reached high school, studying a language was optional. We had a choice of Latin.

Our school was small, and the reason we had Latin offered, instead of French or Spanish or German, was because of Ms. Edwina Nutter. A teacher of English, she also knew Latin.

Ergo, Latin.

(J'regrette! Lo siento mucho! Gotdammenstein!)

Ms. Nutter was no nutter; shrewd and humorous she was. She liked to travel, and since a nine-month teaching job paid frugally, every other year she'd promote a grand tour of Europe, with herself as the guide, travelling free. An educated woman in a small Texas town.

Latin not useful, you say? Ha! I beg to differ ...

To this day, I still recall these five handy phrases ...

• Semper Fidelis. (Always Faithful.)
  
  
• Agricolae puellae sunt. (The girls are farmers.)
  
  
• Pax vobiscum. (Peace go with you.)
  
  
• Vini, Vidi, Vici. (I came, I saw, I conquered.)
  
  
• Est ne puella? (Are you a girl?)
  

As you can see, these five phrases will cover almost any situation. At least, they have for me. Highly recommended!