Why do we use latin phrases still?

I know modern english is an amalgamation of various dialects and languages (most are), drawing heavily on latin, but why do we say “et cetera” when we could just say, “and so forth,” or “modus operandi” when we mean “mode/method of operation.” I mean, what’s with “Nolo Contendera” when it’s obvious it means “No contest.” This is pointless.

Welllll… I think that we haven’t removed them because they have the inertia of centuries behind them. And “nolo contendere” sounds a heluva lot cooler than “no contest”.

We want to sound smart.

Knowledge is the collective wealth of the human race. In fields of knowledge that date back centuries or more, certain phrases and conventions have remained.

Reasons for their continued use are varied; some are simply helpful as abbreviations.

Other phrases & abbreviations are so often used in the preexisting literature that it is just much easier to continue using them than to institute a global change.

For example, if we were to genuinely try and replace with modern equivalents all uses of et al., sensu, e.g., i.e., per se, in re, etc., et al., ad infinitum, etc. we would need to literally revise hundreds of years of literature.

It is much easier, and perhaps more meaningful, for the learning of these (sometimes quirky) phrases and abbreviations to be part of the neophyte’s initiation into his chosen field of knowledge.

Because you can write “etc.” instead of “and so forth.”

Etc., etc. :stuck_out_tongue:

I’m happy we have them. Day in day out I have to communicate in Dutch, French and English. If every language should use its own abreviations that would be a real pain.

If I now see in a lettre. etc I know what it means. If someone puts asf meaning “and so forth” it gets complicated. Then you could also say aso = and so on or agf = and going further…

Then do this in three languages and you are screwed.

NO NO please dont touch those handy latin abreviations if its up to me.

In the sciences, the advantage of using Latin names and phrases is obvious for the same reasons mentioned by Sportshoe. For instance, in pharmacy, I dare say that pharmacists from here to Outer Mongolia know the meaning of the latin phrases represented by “b.i.d.” and “q.i.d”, or other necessary words like “gt.” (guttae=“drops”).

Had you left the first “etc.” out of your list, it would have appeared very clever. Because the “etc.” at the end could be doing double duty, both as a member of the list, and as an et cetera.

:wink:

“Box of Nabiscos” is not Latin, even though it sounds like it.

Just doing my bit to help out.

A follow-on question: why are they still treated as “latin phrases”? Why haven’t they just been included in the English language, like all the other latin words we’ve stolen?

Well, most Latin phrases that we are discussing are just that: phrases. For example (e.g. :smiley: ), the phrase et cetera is commonly used in English, but the individual words et and cetera, are not generally used by themselves.

SmackFu: I believe they still persist as Latin Phrases in order to express, among other things, the timelessness of such ideas. Also, keeping them extant allows for a figurative interpretation as well as a literal one.

F’rinstance, and this one’s a little esoteric: a personal friend wrote an op-ed piece in the Cincinnati Enquirer calling into question the contemporary use of the mascot “Redskins.” The column – about my alma mater, Miami University – included the school’s slogan Prodesse Quam Conspici, or “to accomplish rather than to be conspicuous,” pointedly, as a type of admonition to the recent rhetoric.

On another level, the use of such a phrase expresses many meanings to many different people: to the alumnus, it’s chiding (why do you keep drawing attention to your own ignorance?); to the layman, it’s a little insight into the University itself (founded the same year as President Lincoln’s birth); to the philosopher, it’s a reminder that these same ideas may well have existed thousands of years ago.

Further, I can sprinkle enough imagery to well-nigh supersaturate an essay, yet a great many readers may miss the point. But should I lob an arcane Latin phrase into my writing, it’s a little more obvious that there could be a subtext.

Finally, such phrases are still created today, for personal enjoyment, to tap into a collective consciousness or to cloak seditious beliefs. A personal favorite, and a message to lovers of Latin: non illegitimi carborundum.

But mostly because the Romans had an overwhelming influence on how our laws, religions, literature, architecture…on how our whole culture developed!