AWADmail Issue 252
March 11, 2007
A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day
and Other Interesting Tidbits about Words and Languages
----------------------------
From: Jennifer Bird-Pollan (jbirdpollan law.harvard.edu)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--de novo
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/de_novo.html
We law students see the word 'de novo' all the time, since it is a
standard of review for appellate courts who are hearing cases that
have been appealed from lower levels. Most questions of law that
reach appellate courts are reviewed de novo, which means that the
higher court is not bound by the lower court's findings with regard
to the question of law. In contrast, a trial court's findings of
fact will, in almost all circumstances, be binding on a higher court
that is hearing an appeal of that lower court's decision.
----------------------------
From: Claire Schaeffer (clairem.schaeffer mms.gov)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--ipso facto
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/ipso_facto.html
Can any of us (OK, of a certain age) forget Archie Bunker of TV sitcom
"All in the Family" saying "ipso fatso"?
----------------------------
From: Claire Thomas (eclaire333 earthlink.net)
Subject: Latin terms
Habeas corpus is the most important Latin term in English. It stems directly
from the Magna Carta, 1215, when furious barons rebelled at summary
imprisonment, of themselves and/or their wives, for refusal to pay assessments
for John's unpopular wars to regain lost lands in France. It is enshrined in
the U.S. Constitution, Section IX:
"The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless
when in cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it."
Government officials may ignore the requirements of a written constitution
but the existence of the written words requires them to justify (if they can)
their actions as being within the letter of the law.
----------------------------
From: Dana Rabenberg (danacathy yahoo.com)
Subject: Latin
Your reference to Latin being a dead language took me back to my high-school
days in Latin class. We all learned the Latin student's lament: "Latin is a
dead language, as dead as dead can be. First it killed the Romans, and now
it's killing me!"
----------------------------
From: Joey (merlock13 aol.com)
Subject: Dead Language?
Latin isn't quite dead yet---aside from its semi-use in scholarly fields,
it (along with Italian) is one of the official languages of Vatican City,
a sovereign, if not very large, country, so its still being used, albeit
only as a shadow of its former glory.
It might be an official language of Vatican City, they might
conduct certain rites in Latin, but they don't use it their
day-to-day language either. Their Web site is available in
six languages and Latin is not one of them.
-Anu Garg
----------------------------
From: Mark Hughes (mhughes hugheshome.net)
Subject: Elvis, Finland, & Latin
How dead can a language be if Elvis uses it?
http://rockyhillside.net/Blogs/index.php/2006/10/25/finland_makes_latin_the_king
----------------------------
From: John Lenton ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--de novo
In Spanish at least, if you only mean the parts of Isthmian, Insular
and South America that speak Spanish or Portuguese, you usually say
"Iberoamérica" ("Iberian America" in English, I guess). Latin America
specifically also includes the French-speaking countries and
dependencies (sometimes including e.g. Quebec in North America), and
often does not include the Dutch- or English-speaking dependencies
Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_America , it's pretty accurate,
and shows that even what I just said is only partially true: the view
that Latin America is everything south of the 'states is the usual US
view of things.
----------------------------
From: Carsten Kruse (c-kruse t-online.de)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--de novo
I'd like to mention two languages that should not be forgotten:
Rhätoromanisch (Romansch) - still spoken in some parts of Switzerland
(mainly in Kanton Graubünden (Grischun)) and it's one of the four official
languages of Switzerland and Ladin (or Ladinisch, very similar to
Rhätoromanisch) spoken in a few regions of the Italian Alps both of which
should have a very close relationship to original Latin. There are AFAIK
a few more of those languages in the Alps region, but these two are the
more popular ones.
----------------------------
From: David Wallechinsky (maussane aol.com)
Subject: Doug Larson, Olympic Gold Medalist-Hoax
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/floruit.html
That was a great quotation from Olympic gold medalist Doug Larson about
the disappearing eight hours. Unfortunately, there is no such person.
Elsewhere on the Internet this quotation is attributed to "Doug Larson,
English middle-distance star who won gold medals at the 1924 Olympics."
The middle-distance star of the 1924 Olympics was English and his name
was Douglas, but his last name was Lowe.
David Wallechinsky
Vice-President, International Society of Olympic Historians
Author, The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics
............................................................................
Words are a commodity in which there is never any slump. -Christopher
Morley, writer (1890-1957)
Send your comments to (words AT wordsmith.org). To subscribe, unsubscribe,
update address, gift subscription: http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html
See previous issues of AWADmail at http://wordsmith.org/awad/awadmail.html
This message was sent to "[email protected]".
