John Y’s Musings from the Middle: L’il Latin

My daughter was studying for her Latin exam last night.

I tried to sound clever by telling her “Carpe Diem!” (Seize the day)

She smiled as I walked out of the room but then called me back in.

“Dad, do you know many Latin words?”

“Some. Why?”

“Tell me some of the Latin words you know” she asked in that way that suggested I wasn’t as proficient at Latin as I wanted her to think.

“Well,” I said, “let’s see….I know what, um, ‘carpe’ means. And ‘diem.’

Squinting incredulously at me, my daughter asked with amusement, “Anything else?”

After a long pause I said, “Hercules?” And pointed out that Julius Ceasar often spoke in Latin, especially when addressing Brutus.

At that point I told my daughter I would be in my office working if she needed any more help studying for her Latin exam.

She apparently didn’t need any help the rest of the night.