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July 08, 2006 09:41 AM EDT --
Nihil Sine Numine is Colorado's state motto. The translation I've usually seen is "Nothing without Providence." Providence doesn't carry for me the meaning of the Latin word numine . . .
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July 01, 2006 01:02 PM EDT --
I think one reason so many states have Latin mottoes is that Latin is so thrify with words, and many of the words are thrifty in themselves. For example, take ergo. No, it isn't kin to ergonomics (that's . . .
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June 24, 2006 10:28 PM EDT --
More and more often these days I see writers using the word whom when who is appropriate. These days, informal, casual speakers may dispense with whom altogether, with no harm done. Who are you going to . . .
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June 17, 2006 09:11 AM EDT --
The Latin word quid can be used as an indefinite neuter pronoun, meaning some thing or any thing. English has taken over the phrase quid pro quo, meaning something for something. My favorite English quid . . .
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June 14, 2006 08:29 AM EDT --
I see it in the New York Times, in books, in local newspapers. When I hear it in conversations, I'm not sure what I am hearing: free reign or free rein? What does it mean, anyway? Since hardly anyone . . .
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June 10, 2006 03:22 PM EDT --
Why do sane writers of English keep on translating English into Latin? Isn't Latin a dead language? Who reads it? I have personally possessed these books, translated into Latin: Peter Rabbit, Winnie . . .
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June 08, 2006 11:06 AM EDT --
You caregivers probably wish you had some energy-conserving allies. As a caregiven person, I want to write from that standpoint.
For seven months I put off taking a trip to Colorado to deal with some . . .
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June 03, 2006 09:07 AM EDT --
This week on Gather I read an article which I found interesting and well-written, except for one flaw: the writer had used the word criteria as a single noun. This is an easy mistake to make, because in . . .
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May 27, 2006 02:43 PM EDT --
George lit
a big bonfire:
Celebrate Commencement!
Out rushed a flustered mother hen.
No thing
Survived the all-devouring flames--
Only smell of sulphur
hard yellowed bits
Un-chicks
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May 27, 2006 12:48 PM EDT --
It's graduation time!
Early in the program the salutatorian speaks. From salve (sahl-way), be in good health! greetings! hello!
Late in the program the valedictorian speaks. From vale (wah-lay), . . .
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May 20, 2006 11:33 AM EDT --
Opus is the word for today.
A Latin noun has one of three genders: masculine, feminine, neuter. If a noun ends in the letters -us, it is likely (but not always) masculine.
Opus is a neuter noun meaning . . .
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May 15, 2006 01:06 PM EDT --
kittens have a real home nestling with cat-mother no more eye-dropper
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May 13, 2006 10:19 AM EDT --
esse=to be
Since the infinitive form of any verb in Latin is contained in one word, nobody in ancient Rome ever gave a thought to split infinitives. Nowadays, some writers avoid splitting infinitives, . . .
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May 10, 2006 11:35 AM EDT --
Kittens
curled in one clump,
breathing in, breathing out:
two more white than black, the other
blacker.
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May 10, 2006 10:39 AM EDT --
pure white marble square
lying under my bedstead:
reminder of death.
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May 09, 2006 09:28 AM EDT --
Interloping dog
rushes in and kills the cat.
Poor, mewling kittens
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May 09, 2006 08:08 AM EDT --
I tease you a lot
to keep you at a distance
away from danger.
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May 08, 2006 11:57 AM EDT --
Just now
raven flew by
with hen's egg in its beak.
How does it get to eat the egg?
Don't know.
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May 06, 2006 07:24 AM EDT --
ipse, ipsa, ipsum = self (himself, herself, itself); in person; very, identical, exactly
ipsissimus--his very own self
ipsissima--her very own self
ipsissimum--its very own self
nunc ipsum--right now . . .
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May 03, 2006 10:37 PM EDT --
These be
three noisy things;
The roaring wind...the child
Who's stepped upon a bumblebee..
Cymbals
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