0n (20 Oct 06) BOB KLAHN wrote to CINDY HAGLUND...

 CH> 0n (17 Oct 06) BOB KLAHN wrote to CINDY HAGLUND...

 BK>  BK>> ...

 BK>  CH>> Nolite te bastardes corborunduorum

 BK>  BK>>  Illegitimus non carborundum.

 CH>  That first word is what you would get if you looked up the
 CH>  right translation but the one M. Atwood gives is
 CH>  'bastardos"...

 CH> The meaning is: Don't let the bastards grind you down."
 CH> ...................

 BK>  I never studied either language, but the one you gave sounds
 BK>  more like Italian than Latin to me.


 Could well be. The author's character referred to it is a sort of pig
 latin.... and I think like most Western lingos has roots in latin? :)

 If you google the phrase you'll get a lot of 'illegitmos' for
bastardos ... hmmm. Welp let's remember the quote came from the author
of a fiction novel. :)

The character (a military man) who translated it for another curious
character (his handmaid) who found it etched into the wood of the small
closet of her (prison) bedroom .... confessed it was the sort of
thing English School Boys scribbled into the margins of their latin
textbooks... playing with the words using them as 'code' to send
messages to one another. All in fun and practice for their illustrious
futures in military espionage or writing books of that nature or
what not.
.....

 BK>  BK>>  Rin tin tin I remember.

 CH>  LOL. NO NO not that Tin Tin... Heh. I'll ask my sister to
 CH>  be sure I've got it right.. :) And yeah now come to think
 CH>  of it I do remember that show This little dog in the comic
 CH>  was a terrier I think. Rin was a big German Shepherd. That
 CH>  was a western wasn't it? Sort of like Lassie of the West?

 BK>  Yeah. Yo Rinny. You said it was in Germany, and Rin Tin Tin was
 BK>  a *GERMAN* Shepard.

 That's right! But wasn't 'Snowy" a cute terrior of some sort? All
white too? :) I never actually read the comic, mind you. I was only
referring to it as the subject of that carpet scene I mentioned
liking.

..............

 CH>  How did this work?  When she talked to you she must have
 CH>  used English enough to make the Spanish come across right?

 BK>  No, that is just how simple High School Spanish is. I took
 BK>  French in High school, plus watching TV you sometimes hear
 BK>  Spanish. So, just around I picked up enough to follow what she
 BK>  was saying. At the High School level. After she came back, as i
 BK>  said, she was way beyond me.

 That's what my sister said about learning to speak German when
mingling with German speaking people. IT's never the same as what the
books teach but is anything like that? We learn more from life than we
do books. Books are handy additions; oceans of additional info
and insight...but they don't work- alone.

This point always reminds me of the classic stories you've seen/read
both fact/fictionalized where the patrol party gets a new
Lieutenant... from West Point. HAs NO combat experience... and more
often than not defers to his very experienced sargent for advice...
until he gets a handle on it all... that is if he lives long enough.

.................

 CH>  Now wait. I feel a joke coming on. I meant to edit that
 CH>  sentence but forgot. When I asked you how do you say this
 CH>  in German. It COULD have looked like "how do you say
 CH>  "THIS" in German.  I meant how do you say
"goodbye" in
 CH>  German. :)

 BK>  I missed that one completely.

 That's okay. If I didn't point it out chances are someone else would
so I thought I'd beat them to it.
...............

 BK>  Loos... isn't it?

 Loos? as in English Bathrooms? :)

There's websites in US ENglish vs British English. Knocked her up in
Britan means to go to her door and knock on it to say hello....
whereas in the US it means a girl got 'in the family way'.

Reember that old English pop song? Lyrics go like:
"Knock three times if you want me in the mornin'....' (I think it
inferred  knocking on the ceiling with a broom or something as the
girl lived down stairs. So you knocked up... etc.. This is a memory
mind you and thus is suspect to error. I'm not claiming it as fact.
But then, not sure we should care.

Good to know some differences! IIRC the "OKAY" sign expressed in
NOrthern Italy might get you a nasty look. It means 'asshole' there
. To be honest I this might be simply a misinterpretation as the
sign for OKAY in Italian might be very CLOSE to 'okay'... just as one
sign for Thirsty and for oral sex is VERY similar. (With that one it's
safer to simply do the drinking cup sign for the right interp.)

..................

 BK>  BK>>  Actually I do know how to say goodbye in German, but wouldn't
 BK>  BK>>  even try to spell it.

 CH>  We'll find out soon. I think "Tanke" is Thank you. Or is
 CH>  that 'think?

 BK>  Danke...

 Danke! :) Then is tanke : think? I've seen this somewhere.

 BK>  Or, as the story goes...

 BK>  Customer: Danke,
 BK>  Waiter: Yes, with the rain and all...
 BK>  Customer: Bitte?
 BK>  Waiter: Well a bit chilly, but I wouldn't say it was that cold.

 :)  When I used to watch the Commercial National 'news' the captioning
was often full of typos. One that stays to mind is in reference to the
everlasting Middle East Conflict... citing Israeli Juice.

Cindy

... If everyone  thinks alike then somebody isn't thinking.

--- PPoint 3.01