Latin

[Jan Bosselaers]

Carmine Colacino wrote:

> Botany uses Latin (in a limited extent anyway), and I notice that the
> persons wondering about its usefulness are often native speakers of English,
> which I think is very annoying. After all, everybody else makes an effort to
> learn English, and, it appears, English-speakers (or some of them) complain
> of having to learn not a whole language, but just a little bit of a
> specialized botanical language derived from Latin (I mean, it is not even
> the whole Latin language).

There may be some thruth in this, but fortunately not all English
speakers are alike in this respect. One of them, named Henry Beard, has
even published two books which some list members might find amusing,
although they have nothing to do with taxonomy: "Latin for all
occasions" and "Latin for even more occasions", both published by
HarperCollins Publishers, in 1992 and 1993. These little books certainly
enliven the study of Latin. For example, one can find in them a useful
all purpose letter to publishing collegues with whom one happens to
disagree:

Care Baro,
Libellus tuus est iactura probosa pellium papyrique et sententiae tuae
indignae etiam plebecula humillima sunt. Si imperator essem, tum tu
eiectus in exilium vitam reliquam miserrime degeres scribens Philippicas
acerbas in frustra corticis in gurgustio male olenti apud Dalmatas.

Who said that Latin is dead?
--------------------------------------------------------------
Jan Bosselaers
"Dochterland", R. novarumlaan 2
B-2340 Beerse, Belgium                       tel 32-14-615896
home: dochterland at village.uunet.be           fax 32-14-610306
work: jbossela at janbe.jnj.com
web: http://gallery.uunet.be/Dochterland/
"I live that long because I do not die"
Louise De Ruyver, oldest Belgian (110)