Nanny's thought police in certain local councils have donned their jackboots again, and are trying to ban certain "elitist" words from being used.
Nanny has taken exception to the use of Latin words, in her view they are elitist and discriminatory (ie her lousy educashun system has failed to provide people with enough wit and brains to look the words up, or know what they mean). As such Nanny has banned her employees from using them, and wants them to use much longer phrases (in English) instead.
Isn't funny how dead headed bureaucrats feel the need to use more words than really necessary when speaking?
Maybe they don't want us to understand what they are talking about?
Isn't that elitist as well?
Nanny's chums in Bournemouth Council, which has the Latin motto Pulchritudo et Salubritas - beauty and health -, has listed 19 terms it no longer considers acceptable for use eg:
- ad hoc
- bona fide
- status quo
- vice versa
- via
Clearly Nanny regards us being highly ignorant if she believes that we cannot grasp what the above words actually mean (especially when used in context), or could it be that her educashun system is now in fact turning out ignoramuses?
The alternatives proposed by Nanny are of course much more complex and cumbersome:
- 'for this special purpose' in place of ad hoc
- 'existing condition' or 'state of things' instead of status quo
As Mary Beard, a Cambridge professor of classics, said:
"This is absolutely bonkers and the linguistic equivalent of ethnic cleansing.
English is and always has been a language full of foreign words. It has never been an ethnically pure language."
Salisbury council has asked staff to avoid the phrases ad hoc, ergo and QED (quod erat demonstrandum), and Fife has banned ad hoc as well as ex officio.
We have become a nation of illiterates!
When you don't know the meaning of a word, use a dictionary to look it up!
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ReplyDeletePardon the pig latin, but it was irresistable.
Stupid people are easier to control. Simple as that.
ReplyDelete"Merda taurorum animas conturbit"
ReplyDeletetrans: "Bullshit baffles the mind"
Perhaps this should be emailed to Bournemouth Council.
Bournemoth eh?
ReplyDeleteInteresting.
There seems to be some sort of epidemic of council interference and stupidity on the South Coast.
Could be fun in Dorset - all those places with Latin based names that would need to be renamed it the Ban Latin idea takes a grip. (Agrippa?)
But wait!
If they need to rename places they will need to select new names and what cold be better than some local notables.
"Councillor Smith New Town" perhaps? Rolls off the tongue so much better than, for example, Bere Regis, Canford Magna or Gaunt's Common.
One has to wonder how little these people do for them to have the time to pander to this pointless excercise.
Grant
As someone who had the privilege of a Classical education, and who enjoyed Latin and Classical Studies at school and also subsequently, I am appalled by this 'merda taurorum'. Since half the words or more in the English language are descended from Latin, these morons are going to have some fun banning them all, aren't they? Better still, ban Nanny and those working for her instead: the country will be a much better place!
ReplyDeleteOh good, another chance for me to point out that this explains why they are abolishing Habeus Corpus.
ReplyDeleteDoes any one else think it is a bit funny for local authorities to ban Latin, whilst at the same time, spending a fortune on the translation of information sheets for non native speakers? Latin at least provides the building blocks for many of our English words.
ReplyDeleteI have only one question for the local authorities in relation to the Latin ban and that question is this:-
Cui bono?.....Sorry I couldn't resist....Has anyone sent a letter in Latin to the said council yet just for a laugh?
"Pro tempore," crazy PC rules seem to be a "Vade Mecum" for local councils and their staff.
'- ad hoc
ReplyDelete- bona fide
- status quo
- vice versa
- via'
etc etc etc, as they say.
Presumably there's a certain ageing rock group that will not be allowed to play at any council venues unless they translate their elitist name.
ReplyDeleteJust wondering, do they really mean all Latin words? I cannot wait to see what Bournemouth's Animal Welfare department have to change their name to in order to comply. I suppose the "Non-Homo sapiens sapiens Welfare" department is out of the question!
Anti latin - racist innit.
ReplyDeletedissing the lats I mean.
In the article about this that I read in a paper, a spokeswoman justified the ban by using 'eg' as an example, the grounds being that people might mistakenly believe that it meant 'egg'. This is what comes of 'banning spelling' but, of course, that's in the ultimate good cause of protecting the chiiiildren. Once they've banned punctuation, we can look forward to a complete breakdown in ability to communicate with each other.
ReplyDeleteWe've come a long way - in such a short time - since needing Latin to get into university.
Jay
Who says I'm common?
ReplyDelete