Huh? Latin??

In case you think i spend all my waking hours online, i do read a hard copy book you know, lol

This is a book that caught my fancy while i was at the library. i usually do this: first, i judge the book by the cover, pass? read the blurb behind, pass? read the first few pages. If the book is still in my hands by then, i will borrow it :)

The writer combined wit and humour as he shared about Latin, the language as well as all things Roman (architecture, emperors, numbers). The last chapter is especially helpful. I will reproduce some of the commonly seen Latin phrases here (so i can show off the next time, lol):

1) Ad hoc - "For this purpose"
- temporarily useful

2) Ad nauseam - "until sickness"
- endlessly

3) Alma mater - "Nourishing mother"
- your old school/university

4) Alumnus - "Nursling, foster child"
- graduate of a particular uni

5) Anno Domini - "In the year of our Lord"
- abbreviated to AD

6) Ante meridiem - "Before noon" & Post meridiem - "after noon"
- a.m. & p.m.

7) Bona fide - "In good faith"

8) Carpe diem - "Seize the day"
- i like this, remember Robin Williams in Dead Poets' Society?

9) Caveat emptor - "Let the buyer beware"

10) Cf - Look
- abbreviation for confer which in Latin meant "compare"

11) Cum laude - "With praise"
- in American universities: magna cum laude - "with great praise" = second best degrees
- summa cum laude - "with greatest praise" - used for the best

12) Curriculum vitae - "the course of your life"
- CV lah

13) De facto - in reality

14) e.g. exempli gratia - "for the sake of example"

15) Et al - "and the other people"

16) etc, et cetera - "and the other things"

17) Ibid - "In the same place" - short for ibidem
- you see this at footnotes

18) Mea culpa - "my fault"

19) Modus operandi - "a way of working"

20) Non sequitur - "it doesn't follow"
- an illogicality

21) Per se - "through itself"
- in and of itself

22) Post mortem - "After death"
- an autopsy

23) Post partum - "after birth"

24) Post scriptum - "After having been written"
- P.S.

25) QED, quod erat demostrandum - "The thing that was to be proved"
- er, it's not quite easily done ok, lol

26) Quid pro quo - "What for what?"
- something for something

27) Re - "in the matter of"
- concerning (and i had thot all along it's "regarding", lol)

28) RIP - requiescat in pace - "May he rest in peace"

29) Sic - "wrong, but that was how the original speaker said or wrote it"

30) Versus - "against"
31) Via "by way of"
32) Vice versa - "conversely"
33) Viz - short for videre licet - "one may see" - namely

Interesting hoh? i've been sooooo ignorant, lol