2 thoughts on “Handy Latin”

1. At the AggieCon art auction, Dan got a piece which is the Latin translation of Dirty Harry’s “Do you feel lucky?” speech, done in very nice calligraphy and matted tastefully.

   I’m disappointed that one’s not on the page. :(

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2. Heh… how odd of whoever did that. You could always transcribe it, I’m sure the host of the site would be happy to add it. Or at least the catchphrase.

   I wonder how “punk” is rendered — whether the connotation is towards youth, foolishness, brazenness, or all of that in one. I guess Latin would probably have a word that captures all of that, anyway, as the notion of foolish young upstarts challenging their elders definitely would have been around in Roman times.

   These days my Media English class is looking at things thematically, and right now we’re on the very basic concepts of Nerd and Cool. I’m finding my students’ interpretation of these words quite interesting, given that they’re foreign concepts which, no matter to what degree they’ve been absorbed, have been absorbed by the same fundamental cultural matrix that, for example, stresses academic achievement and intelligence, and emphasizes polite deferral to even questionable superiors within an established social hierarchy to a degree that is much higher than in Western society. (… or so is my perception. I’m trying not to foist it upon my students, though.)

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