# Should I learn Latin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 12, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-learn-latin/148160 "2003-01-12T17:48:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-learn-latin/148160/41 "2003-01-19T02:59:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mama K \* > “Is there any slang in Latin?” > “Yeah, it’s called Italian.” I don’t know who wrote that, and I imagine it’s a joke, but there certainly is “vulgar” classical Latin. As I understand it, we learned a lot of it from graffiti. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-learn-latin/148160/42 "2003-01-19T20:47:21Z")
After a council of my Latin class, we agreed “ancilla” would mean “bitch” in certain contexts. As in “tu es meum ancilla.” Also, “scribit tua mater” euquals “word to your mother.” “quid hades?”=“what the hell?” And so on. ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-learn-latin/148160/43 "2003-01-19T21:05:54Z")
It absolutely warms my heart, as a classics major who hopes to be a classics professor in the not-to-distant future, to see so many people encouraging someone to take Latin. Everyone has already expressed all of the reasons for taking Latin, but I myself have grown tired over the years trying to convince people of the practical application of my major. I just do it because it’s fun! [Ancient Greek is too!] Daphne Plus, there’s the chance to get PAID for, more or less, reading and writing, which seems unimaginably wonderful to me. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-learn-latin/148160/44 "2003-01-19T21:06:13Z")
> [@](#): > > Also, “scribit tua mater” euquals “word to your mother.” No, it doesn’t. “He wrote you mother”? “Word” is _verbum,_ 2nd declension singular nominative. “To your mother” is dative case, also 2nd declension \*matro tuo \* thus, _verbum matro tuo_. ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-learn-latin/148160/45 "2003-01-19T23:07:31Z")
Blast. I had a feeling it wasn’t right… but it’s my fault for not checking. How embarassing. :o “He wrote your mother” has potential. ---
**Author:** ![Melandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Melandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melandry)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-learn-latin/148160/46 "2003-01-19T23:12:54Z")
**DaphneBlack** , as another Classics major (now a Classics PhD hopeful), I’d just like to say welcome to the boards! ---
**Author:** ![Melandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Melandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melandry)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-learn-latin/148160/47 "2003-01-19T23:22:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blackeyes \* > \*\*After a council of my Latin class, we agreed “ancilla” would mean “bitch” in certain contexts. As in “tu es meum ancilla.” > > Also, “scribit tua mater” euquals “word to your mother.” > > “quid hades?”=“what the hell?” And so on. \*\* Ahem. Tu es mea ancilla. Quid Tartari? ---
**Author:** ![typhoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed8c4c/32.png) [@typhoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typhoon)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-learn-latin/148160/48 "2003-01-19T23:52:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Achernar \* > \*\*I don’t know who wrote that, and I imagine it’s a joke, but there certainly is “vulgar” classical Latin. As I understand it, we learned a lot of it from graffiti. 🙂 \*\* [“Forbidden” Latin](http://www.orbilat.com/Latin/Vocabulary/Latin-Forbidden.html). ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-learn-latin/148160/49 "2003-01-20T20:41:25Z")
:smack: I’m new at Latin, bear with me here! ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Mama\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_K)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-learn-latin/148160/50 "2003-01-21T02:49:40Z")
Hey Achernar, that little joke was actually a conversation in my Latin class. Student 1: Is there any Latin slang? Teacher: No. Student 2: Sure there is, it’s called Italian. Teacher: That’s really funny! Joke of the day! And the link for the Forbidden Latin was awesome. Henceforth I shall always refer to Britnety Spears a mulierculum in Latin class. ---
**Author:** ![Ersatz\_Shmoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@Ersatz\_Shmoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ersatz_Shmoe)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-learn-latin/148160/51 "2003-01-21T06:50:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gobear \* > \*\*“What is this? ‘Romanes eunt domus’, ‘people called Romanes they go the house’?” > > “It-it says, ‘Romans go home’!” > > “No, it doesn’t!” \*\* We actually watched that scene in my Latin III class. For the locative jokes mostly, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![G.Cornelius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@G.Cornelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.Cornelius)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-learn-latin/148160/52 "2003-01-21T13:46:55Z")
This web site is well worth a look: [http://www.orbilat.com/index-main.html](http://www.orbilat.com/index-main.html) And especially this page, an Alternative Latin Grammar. I have not yet read all of it myself, but it does seem to a slightly different, less traditional approach: [http://www.orbilat.com/Latin/Alternative\_Grammars/index.html](http://www.orbilat.com/Latin/Alternative_Grammars/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![DaddyTimesTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DaddyTimesTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyTimesTwo)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-learn-latin/148160/53 "2003-01-21T14:44:07Z")
If you want to see Mel Gibson’s new movie, you should not only learn Latin but Aramaic as well. I can’t find another link than [this one](http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/030121/161/333lq.html&e=8&ncid=707). Probably a little too arty for me, though. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-learn-latin/148160/54 "2003-01-21T23:09:51Z")
I can’t believe I’m the only one pedantic enough to point out that Latin is not a dead language. A dead language is one which nobody _knows_ any more, not just one which nobody speaks as a first language. The fact that it is possible to take Latin classes is proof positive that it’s not dead. There are, however, many tribal languages around the world which are dead or dying (as in, the only people who know the language are elderly and can’t find any willing pupils among the younger generation). But yes, learn it. If nothing else, it’s fun, and it can occasionally even be useful. ---
**Author:** ![Melandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Melandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melandry)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-learn-latin/148160/55 "2003-01-22T00:08:56Z")
From [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) > [@](#): > > Dead language, a language which is no longer spoken or in common use by a people, and is known only in writings, as the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 > [@](#): > > dead language n. A language, such as Latin, that is no longer learned as a native language by a speech communitySource: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition > Copyright © 2000 That’s the definition of “dead language” I’ve always heard: no native speakers. ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-learn-latin/148160/56 "2003-01-22T00:26:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ersatz Shmoe \* > \*\*We actually watched that scene in my Latin III class. For the locative jokes mostly, IIRC. \*\* Yeah, we watched it in Latin 101. And I wholeheartedly recommend study of Latin. I took it as an undergrad because I thought it would be cool to know. Which proved a good thing, because I now need it for my PhD – I’m studying English, but since I’m concentrating in Renaissance literature I have to prove proficiency in Latin. My department is thinking about dropping this requirement (though I’d still be bound by it since it was in place when I started). I hope they don’t… ---
**Author:** ![tullius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tullius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullius)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-learn-latin/148160/57 "2003-01-22T21:11:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DarRRva \* > \*\*. . . . my latin teacher was recenlty offred $75,000US to work PART TIME as a latin teacher in the us! \*\* Any details? I (a former Classics major), for one, would be interested. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-learn-latin/148160.md?page=2)