WEEKLY STANDARDS

I guess I was so caught up in four sightings of classical learning in one article in this week's edition of The Weekly Standard that I forgot to write about them, so here goes. On page twelve in the August 31st issue is an article by William Anderson entitled "Who Owns Your Body? Under Obamacare, not you." Within the article can be found the Latin phrases ad nauseam, ipso facto, and ad hoc, and later in the article is the phrase Procrustean protocols. The three Latin phrases have become so common in English as to not merit italics in an English dictionary; ad nauseam (to the point of sickness), ipso facto (by/from the deed/fact itself), and ad hoc (for this purpose) are familiar to many readers. For readers of Greek mythology, Procrustes is also a familiar figure, one of the villains met by Theseus on his way to Athens. Procrustes forced all passersby to lie down on his special bed; if the traveler's legs were too long, Procrustes lopped them off, and if the traveler was not long enough to cover the bed, Procrustes stretched him until he fit. Thanks, Weekly Standard, for keeping us supplied with Latin phrases and mythological references.