Scotus ex patria sum. Patria nostra fortunata non est et duces inter nos.
On the other hand people often pretend to more Latin than they have, and
those of us who took it in school (only 2 years in my case) often get it
wrong too. Perhaps what you really protest is the educational milieu which
allows the unthinking absorption of inaccuracies, and their further
transmission in a game of oneupmanship. On the other hand much of western
Europe would still know and speak the language of Cicero without such
faulty transmission. And we wouldn't have such wonderful baroque neologisms
as 'oneupmanship'. On yet another hand Latin itself shows traces of having
made all sorts of odd, probably innacurate borrowings from Greek and
(probably) Etruscan. Plus a language that can get 'anthem' out of
'antiphon' and then keep both words is a precious wonder! john
John Blyth
Baritono robusto e lirico
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
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