September 16, 2006

DOES ANYBODY KNOW HOW TO SAY “GO PLAY IN THE TRAFFIC” IN LATIN?

Muslims vent fury at Pope's speech (Richard Owen and Suna Erdem, The Times, September 16th, 2006)

THE Pope’s visit to Turkey, which many hoped would herald a new era of improved relations between Islam and the West, was in doubt yesterday amid condemnation of remarks by the pontiff that appeared to link Islam and violence.

As Muslims all over the world protested, with effigies of Benedict XVI burnt during demonstrations in Pakistan, members of the Turkish Government urged the Pope to reconsider his visit in November. Senior officials in Turkey said that they could not guarantee his safety if he went ahead with the trip.

The Pope’s remarks were either “the result of pitiful ignorance” about Islam or a deliberate distortion of the truth, said Salih Kapusuz, deputy leader of the strongly Islamic party led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Prime Minister.


Posted by Peter Burnet at September 16, 2006 11:28 AM
Comments

I bet Lou does.

Posted by: Jim in Chicago at September 16, 2006 11:49 AM

I wish I owned the human effigy concession in that part of the world.

Posted by: Robert Duquette at September 16, 2006 2:15 PM

"Pope effegies, pope effigies, get your pope effigies!" "We've got 'em on special this week!" "Buy 2 and get one Bushhitler effigy for free."

Posted by: Ali Bin-ahmad at September 16, 2006 4:50 PM

Had steve Irwin been a Muslim, they would be burning effegies of stingrays, no doubt.

Posted by: ratbert at September 16, 2006 9:20 PM

Humbled by your confidence, I may suggest the simple,
"Ite, in via ludere."

Posted by: Lou Gots at September 17, 2006 1:08 AM

> Humbled by your confidence, I may suggest the simple, "Ite, in via ludere."

I like it! But I think the vocative might be "ludite."

Posted by: Guy T. at September 17, 2006 1:17 PM

One of us may be mixed up a little. By my understanding, going back to high school, the vocative case would not appear in the phrase, since we are not addressing a named person. We have only:

(You)go [imperative] in the road [ablative]
(to) play [infinative].

The vocative is a sixth noun case, that of address. It is little recognized since it is identical in form to the nominative, except for the second declension. The best known example would be Shakespeare's "Et tu, Brute," giving the vocative ending, "-e" for "And you, Brutus."

The study of Latin contributes many good things and at least one bad thing to an education.

Posted by: Lou Gots at September 18, 2006 12:05 PM
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