Replying to a message of Mimi Gallandt to Bob Ackley:

 MG> Bob Ackley -> Roger Nelson wrote:
 BA>> Replying to a message of Roger Nelson to Bob Ackley:

 RN>>>>>>>> Post hoc ergo propter hoc.

 MG>>>>>> Like my knowledge of French, my Latin is nearly
nonexistent. :)
 MG>>>>>> I do, however, recognize that it *IS* Latin. :)

 BA>>>> 'After the fact therefore before the fact' is an approximate
 BA>>>> translation.

 RN>>> Very good and close, Bob.  (-:

 BA>> And I flunked fourth year Latin, too.  Barely squeezed through third
 BA>> year.

 MG> I've never taken a dead language class. I don't remember the exact
 MG> phrase in Latin but there's one that translates to I think therefore
 MG> I am. The "therefore" in the sentence is ergo. So I should have
 MG> remembered at least that much. :)

Cogito ergo sum.  I think, therefore I am.

Post = after.  Appears in English, too.

Propter = before.

Hoc = this (hic, haec, hoc - declensions of the word)

The literal translation of the original phrase is 'After this therefore before this.'

A long time ago I found a hard cover copy of Julius Caesar's "Gallic
Wars" - in
Latin.  I could read the first few pages of it (because that part of it was used in
the textbook for my second year Latin class).  Dunno what happened to it.

From memory - "Omnia Gallia est divisum in partes tres ..." 
"All Gaul is divided
into three parts ... ."  Gaul being France, for those who didn't know
- the adjective
'Gallic,' meaning 'French,' comes from the Latin 'Gaul.'

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