A-musing car in Rome

I found a photo I took in Rome in the summer of 2008 (above) of a Renault model that I have never seen in the US. I wonder why the manufacturer decided on the name Clio, the muse of history. Any ideas? It is a cute word, and although you can't see the whole car in the photo, it is also a pretty cute car, especially in its new incarnation.

Vitamin Bottle Latin

This morning as I shook out the last fish oil capsule in the jar, a little packet with the brand name Dessicare also fell into my hand. Aha! I said! Latin! The Latin verb dēsiccō, dēsiccāre I dry, drain gives us the present participle dēsiccāns, dēsiccantis drying which in turn becomes the English word desiccant, something which dries out or keeps dry. So the little packet of moisture absorbing powder or crystals was helping to keep my capsules dry. I love beginning the morning with a little Latin!

An Early Encounter with Latin

Recently I have been reflecting that there was a time in my life when I did NOT know Latin. I began studying Latin as a junior in high school, so for the first sixteen years of my life, I was Latinless. One of my first encounters with Latin was the song O Caritas by Cat Stevens, a song from the album Catch Bull at Four which was released in the early 1970s. The song is hardly uplifting, but I liked it then and I still like it, and how many rock songs can you sing that are in Latin? You can hear the song and watch English lyrics here, and then check out the Latin lyrics.

Digging in the Dirt

This past Sunday found me catching up on some magazines, including the February edition of The Field, an English publication. A one-page interview with garden expert Alan Titchmarsh contained the Latin phrase infra dig, short for infrā dignitātem, Latin for "beneath one's dignity." Mr. Titchmarsh was reflecting on his early career in gardening, and commented that such a career was considered less dignified than other professions. Mr. Titchmarsh went on to host a very informative and entertaining television program on BBC-TV called Groundforce, and has become one of the most recognized gardening pundits in England; you can investigate the magazine here.

Big Cheese

I laughed out loud when I saw a toasty orange vehicle go past me on my way home on the Saw Mill Parkway on Friday afternoon, February 19th. I was marvelling at the orange color, and then I read the license plate: QUESO, the Spanish word for cheese. Really, the car was the color of the kind of melted orange cheese you might find on a perfectly baked macaroni and cheese. And the Latin connection is that queso comes from the Latin word cāseus, -ī m. cheese, which, according to the Oxford Latin Dictionary, can also be used as a term of endearment. Years ago one of my first students at my current school was talking about taking The Cheese home from school; she was referring to her square little schoolbus, also a yellow-orange vehicle.